Gender Identify questionnaire – Vancouver School District

The topic of gender identity has come to at least one Vancouver School District School.

We were notified that a student in a 7th grade glass at a Vancouver school was asked to complete (along with all members of the class) the “Gender Unicorn” form. It’s reported that some of the children didn’t understand some of the terms and had to go look them up.

No notice to parents.

The trans/lgbt/etc. group is less than 2% of the population. For some reason the Vancouver School District believes that the subject needs to be raised and explored with 7th graders. The 98% are subject to being indoctrinated and force fed the beliefs and lifestyles of the 2%. I have no issue with adults choosing their own gender path. However, children are learning and developing and evolving. The Vancouver School District has ~24,000 students. If we use the 2% trans/lgbt percent that works out to ~480 students which leaves 23,520 who are “not” so inclined.

We took a few minutes to search for articles and/or studies on the number of children (18 or younger) that are trans/lgbt and here’s what we found:

Based on the data in the articles there is virtually no data on children. Teenagers appear more inclined than younger children or adults to identify in this way. The best guess is 0.3 to 0.6 percent. If we apply that to the ~24,000 students in the Vancouver SD we get a range of: 72-144 students rather than 480. That would suggest that the 99.4 to 99.7% are being introduced to a subject virtually none of the experiences. Wouldn’t it make sense to have counselors direct students with “identify” questions to medical professionals?

This topic should be the purview of parents…not schools.

Here is a link to the website of the organization that provides the material: http://www.transstudent.org/gender

Here is the actual text from their website:

Definitions:
Gender Identity: Gender Identity: One’s internal sense of being male, female, neither of these, both, or another gender(s). Everyone has a gender identity, including you. For transgender people, their sex assigned at birth and their own internal sense of gender identity are not the same. Female, woman, and girl and male, man, and boy are also NOT necessarily linked to each other but are just six common gender identities.
Gender Expression/Presentation: The physical manifestation of one’s gender identity through clothing, hairstyle, voice, body shape, etc. Most transgender people seek to make their gender expression (how they look) match their gender identity (who they are), rather than their sex assigned at birth.
Sex Assigned at Birth: The assignment and classification of people as male, female, intersex, or another sex based on a combination of anatomy, hormones, chromosomes. It is important we don’t simply use “sex” because of the vagueness of the definition of sex and its place in transphobia. Chromosomes are frequently used to determine sex from prenatal karyotyping (although not as often as genitalia). Chromosomes do not determine genitalia.
Sexually Attracted To: Sexual Orientation. It is important to note that sexual and romantic/emotional attraction can be from a variety of factors including but not limited to gender identity, gender expression/presentation, and sex assigned at birth.
Romantically/Emotionally Attracted To: Romantic/emotional orientation. It is important to note that sexual and romantic/emotional attraction can be from a variety of factors including but not limited to gender identity, gender expression/presentation, and sex assigned at birth.

Example of how to fill out your own Gender Unicorn: Please note that the original website that provided the instructions has removed the page.

This is the current link (as of Feb 2023) that is similar to the original information: https://transstudent.org/gender/

Many people were curious if agender and asexual people were included in this graphic. In short, they are. For example, identifying on the left of the sexuality spectra would indicate no attraction.

Changes from The Genderbread Person
You may recognize this graphic as similar to The Genderbread Person
by itspronouncedmetrosexual. We created a similar graphic with significant changes to more accurately portray the distinction between gender, sex assigned at birth, and sexuality.

Here are some fundamental issues with the graphic:

1. The itspronouncedmetrosexual Genderbread Person is plagiarized.
2. We wanted to create a gender graphic that shows how queer and trans people view gender instead of one straight, cisgender man.

Here are some structural issues with the graphic:
1. Nongendered isn’t the only identity that may fall on the “left” of the Gender Identity Spectrum. Most people prefer the term “agender”.
2. Agender is typically used as a gender identity, not a gender expression
3. Biological sex is an ambiguous word that has no scale and no meaning besides that it is related to some sex characteristics.
It is also harmful to trans people.
Instead, we prefer “sex assigned at birth” which provides a more accurate description of what biological sex may be trying to communicate.
4. Asex isn’t a word, everyone has some sex characteristics prescribed to them.
5. There are other genders besides male and female and not all cultures operate on a male/female binary (which is mostly a European construct).
We included “other genders” to indicate the many genders that other people might identify as, express themselves as, and be attracted to.
6. Sex, whether referencing an array of sex characteristics or sex assigned at birth is not exclusively determined through genitals as insinuated by the image.

Sources:
Queer and trans organizers have been making the distinction between gender identity, gender presentation/expression, sex, and attraction for decades. No one person or organization has created the concept. However “Genderbread” itself has two main sources:

1. textualharassment.tumblr.com (http://www.reddit.com/r/transgender/
comments/ipgod/oversimplified_diagram_
but_still_a_good_way_to/)

2. http://cisnormativity.tumblr.com/post/
9652156368/gingerbread-person-this-is-an-anthropomorphic

Illustrations by Anna Moore. Design by Landyn Pan, Eli Erlick, and many others.

Perhaps we should do some checking to see if this same material and questionnaire are being used at other schools in our community?

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