Under Attack: Fostering Support for Transgender and Nonbinary Individuals

Background

In 2024 over 500 bills have been introduced at state levels that aimed to limit access to restrooms, athletics, medical care, and education for transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people (Trans Legislative Tracker, 2024). Simultaneously, TNB people experience rates of violence that are disproportionate compared to their cisgender peers (Griner, et al., 2017). Multiple calls exist across sectors, including education (Sinclair-Palm & Gilbert, 2018) and specifically within social work education (Authors, 2021) to address these affronts to the well-being of TNB youth and adults. Allyship and activism are woven into the professional ethics of the social work profession, calling us as social work researchers, and educators to examine methods by which we can make change as it relates to inclusive contexts and policies (NASW, 2022; CSWE, 2022).

Methods

Data for this study come from a 2019-2020 national study of social work students (N=719) examining predictors of ally behavior and both conventional (i.e., voting, writing political leaders) and high-risk activism (i.e., engaging in a protest that might lead to arrest) related to TNB communities. Three OLS regressions examine demographic variables, social context variables, school level factors, and students’ understanding of and exposure to content on social justice as it relates to TNB ally behavior, TNB conventional activism, and TNB high-risk activism.

Results

Several school context variables were positively related to TNB ally behavior including participation in intergroup dialogue, taking a power, privilege, and oppression course and attending schools that incorporate topics related to social justice into the school curriculum. Outside of the school context, having more positive attitudes regarding TNB people, and having both LGB and TNB friends were positively related to TNB ally behavior.

For TNB conventional activism, compared to their heterosexual peers, identifying as queer, bisexual, or pansexual was positively related to TNB activism. For school related variables, taking a power, privilege and oppression course was positively related to TNB activism. For social context related variables, having both LGB and TNB friends, having more positive attitudes regarding TNB people, and having a more liberal political orientation were positively related to TNB activism.

Finally, several demographic factors were related to increased high-risk political activism, including identifying as bi/pan sexual (compared to heterosexual peers) and identifying as Black or Latina/o/x (compared to White peers). For social context variables, having more liberal views was positively related to TNB high-risk activism. Lastly, a more critical understanding of social justice was related to an increase in TNB high-risk activism.

Conclusion and Implications

Given the current political context for TNB youth and adults, it is imperative that social work examines its role in supporting allyship and activism with and on behalf of the TNB community. Several social work education related variables – that can be implemented in schools of social work – were found to be influential in TNB ally behavior and activism (both conventional and high-risk).