Anti-transgender legislation reignites classroom hardships for trans students

The effects of anti-trans legislation is often seen in classrooms and schools across the country, where students combat discrimination, fear and harassment.

Esmée Silverman, an openly transgender senior in Massachusetts, says her high school experience "had a lot of its ups and downs ... mostly downs." Silverman, 19, came out to her close friends and family in her freshman year amid the Trump administration's rollback of protections for the transgender community. Then-President Donald Trump rescinded protections that allowed transgender students to use restrooms that matched their gender identity and placed a ban on transgender troops in the military. She said these laws furthered anti-trans sentiment among her peers, and the pressures from the national political climate have made life as a young transgender teen harder. The recent wave of anti-transgender legislation has reignited that pain and fear, she said. Even in the progressive state of Massachusetts, which has laws in place to protect transgender students, Silverman said she feels the burden of the legislation that has been popping up in states throughout the nation and fears for her friends who are in states with anti-trans policies.