Research Capacity Building with Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth

Trans and gender expansive young people are finding innovative ways to resist the multiple and overlapping institutionalized challenges they face and to carve out meaningful lives for themselves. They do so despite their increased risk for harassment, abuse, criminalization, homelessness, and negative mental health and academic outcomes compared to the general population. This interactive workshop will 1) provide an overview on trans and gender expansive youth research, including its strengths and pitfalls. It will especially highlight the differences between trans and gender expansive youth and other members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning (LGBTQQ) and similarly identified communities. It will further emphasize the diversity of experiences among trans and gender expansive youth, with particular attention to the experiences of trans and gender expansive youth of color; 2) discuss recent trends and strategies for successful intersectional community-based participatory research; 3) discuss trans and gender expansive youth research priority areas; and 4) identify ways to address cisgenderism and cis-heterosexism throughout our scholarship. Workshop presenters include trans and gender expansive young researchers and collaborators.