Editor’s note: This story first appeared on palabra, the digital news site by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
By Aitana Vargas
On a sunny April afternoon in Chino, Calif., 17-year-old high-school senior Violeta Acuña and her teacher, Ernest Liberati, go over today’s school assignment. Dressed in a tight black mini skirt accented by black platform sandals, Violeta styles her long, dark curly hair as they chat. Liberati endearingly calls Violeta an “academic diva”: She’s a joyful, dedicated transgender student whose academic performance Liberati says went from average to “more of an explosion” since she began her gender transition journey last year.
Violeta’s small charter school, Options for Youth, is trans-welcoming and offers an independent curriculum for any student who has struggled in traditional schools. Not all of California’s LGBTQ+ students, however, enjoy friendly school environments, despite the Golden State’s robust legislation that provides legal protections for trans minors fleeing states that have banned or criminalized access to gender-affirming care.
In fact, school is not a safe space for most LGBTQ+ California secondary school students, according to a 2021 state-by-state survey by the queer education advocacy organization GLSEN. Many of the students reported their schools were hostile environments: 49% of LGBTQ+ students surveyed regularly heard school staff make homophobic remarks, and 67% heard negative remarks about someone’s gender expression.
Violeta Acuña begins her school day by setting up her laptop and checking in with her teacher, Ernest Liberati, on pending assignments. Photo by Julie Leopo for palabra
Trans teens like Violeta need care and nurturing at school, experts say. “Schools are sometimes the only place for a trans, LGBTQ+ student, or non-binary student to feel safe — to feel like this is a space to even experiment sharing their identity,” says Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications…
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