Dear San Jose Unified Community,

Many people who consider themselves allies are unaware of the frequency of anti-LGBTQ bias incidents locally, preferring to believe that the Silicon Valley is a wholly accepting and liberal place. My experiences as a transgender elementary school teacher and parent of a student here contradict that assumption. Indeed, I have seen a wide discrepancy between law and practice in many district schools. 

What I know for sure is that legal protections for LGBTQ students are not well known, not well understood, and not consistently upheld. This failing is something the district could rectify, but they refuse to prioritize the issue. The onus of change should be on the systems that make it possible for biases to harm students, not on queer children to cry out for help. 

Year after year, I witness administrators and teachers react to transphobia and homophobia as if the issues that occur are somehow anomalies, rather than obvious patterns. Now especially, LGBTQ students desperately need protection in an increasingly dangerous public climate of transphobic misinformation and hatred. Schools cannot stop individual biases from existing, but SJUSD can ensure that the rights enshrined in federal, state, and county law are upheld in our schools. Instead of endlessly playing whack-a-mole with bias incidents, our community could work together on proactive strategies.

San Jose Unified has not yet taken a loud, public stand for the rights of its LGBTQ students; no one in the administration has openly condemned the homophobia and transphobia that exists in our community. In their silence, SJUSD tacitly allows bigots to hurt, diminish, disrespect, exclude, and hate LGBTQ community members. 

We can demand that our schools prioritize the legally mandated safety of our LGBTQ youth. Change is not impossible, but we need more people to commit to doing the work. We can ask the district to say something and start an LGBTQ Advisory Committee. 

Join me in asking our district to step up - sign your name to the following letter.

 

Sincerely,

Eli Dinh (they/them)

San Jose (District 3), Santa Clara County (District 4)

SJUSD employee, parent, and partner

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Letter of Petition:

To the Superintendent and School Board of San Jose Unified School District:

Most local families, educators, and students do not know the first thing about the rights of LGBTQ youth at school.  Some local districts have, nonetheless, put great thought and energy into protecting these students, such as ensuring every school site has an LGBTQ Support Contact (Fremont Unified) or having an LGBTQQIA+ Advisory Committee (Santa Clara Unified). San Jose Unified has taken neither of these steps towards gender justice, and queer youth in our district continue to experience identity-based discrimination at school.

We believe that our community can do better. LGBTQ children in San Jose deserve to feel safe at school, and we hope they can thrive instead of just survive. Existing data on LGBTQ inclusion in the district points clearly to many areas for growth, but your leadership could propel this work forward faster.

With the transgender, nonbinary, Two-Spirit, gender non-conforming, intersex, ace, bi, pan, lesbian, gay, and queer students in San Jose Unified schools in mind, we call upon you to put together a public statement on LGBTQ youth rights in the district. This statement would summarize the work you have already done and acknowledge the fact that there is still tremendous work ahead. 

We ask that this statement clearly outline the legal rights of San Jose Unified students at all grade levels regarding LGBTQ topics, including the right of all students to an LGBTQ-inclusive education in a school community where they are consistently referred to by the correct name and pronouns.

We also urge you to announce your intention to start an LGBTQ Advisory Committee by August 2023, so students, teachers, families, community advocates, and administrators can get to work. Our LGBTQ population has lived experience, professional expertise, and extensive knowledge to offer that is woefully underutilized. 

In summary, we ask for a public statement that includes a review of the legal rights of LGBTQ students and a commitment to start an LGBTQ Advisory Committee.

 

We look forward to your response.

 

Signed,

Your Community Members