This page is intended for course instructors and teaching assistants to learn more about supporting their LGBTQ+ students. Classrooms are not always supportive places for LGBTQ+ students–it can be hard to know who is an ally. You can foster a welcoming environment for your LGBTQ+ students by being cognizant of chosen names and pronouns, recognizing that students may have unsupportive home situations, including syllabus statements that demonstrate your support, and being willing to learn about LGBTQ+ issues.

A poster about supporting trans students with the trans flag as the background.
A text-based description of this poster is available on Twitter.

Calling Roll

Calling names from the school list can immediately out trans students, or force them to choose to stay silent for their safety. If you need to call roll, consider only using last names (for multiple people with the same last name, give the first initial as well). Have your students reply with the name they would like to have used for them, and if it differs from the roll sheet, make a note of it for your records.

Use the same practice with the first attendance sheet.

Coming Out

If LGBTQ+ students feel comfortable with you or look up to you as a mentor, they may come out to you at some point during their education. What you say can profoundly impact your relationship.

Tips:

  • Thank them for sharing their identity with you.
  • Listen to their story if they want to open up about it.
  • Do not share their identity without their consent. If they came out to you as trans, feel free to ask about when it is ok to correct people using an incorrect name or pronouns (i.e., is this knowledge for when we are in a on-on-one setting so I can use the correct name, or is this now public knowledge).
  • Do not ask intrusive questions, such as “what did your parents do/say”?

Resources:

Pronouns

You may have heard the term “preferred pronouns” in the past, but the reality is that pronouns aren’t a preference–they’re mandatory. Using the proper pronouns to refer to someone is one of the most basic forms of respecting them as a person.

There are people in the world that do not want to be referred to by any pronouns. For instance, that person may begin with an introduction of “I am Xavier, no pronouns please.” So, to respect Xavier, simply refer to Xavier as Xavier. It may feel tedious, but you are simply honoring the person’s pronoun use.

One thing that trans people ask of cisgender allies is to help normalize the practice of sharing pronouns. However, it is paramount that normalizing pronouns does not become requiring pronouns, because can make an environment unsafe. Pronouns are contextual, so what may work in the classroom may not be what a student uses with their friends, family, or coworkers. Some easy places to incorporate sharing your pronouns is during an initial introduction (i.e., “Welcome to biology course, I am Professor X and I use he/him pronouns”), including them on your title slide, and adding them to your email signature.

There are more pronouns than the traditional he/him/his, she/her/hers, or they/them/theirs. Variations, like ze and hir, are known as neopronouns. When learning to use new pronouns for someone, or a new set of pronouns, it is important to practice them outside of use with that person. Talk to a stuffed animal about how great ze is. Tell a funny story to your dog about xem.

If you use the wrong pronouns for someone, offer a quick apology, and correct yourself. Something like “Jal, is great, I love him – sorry –her” is all that is needed. Overly profuse apologies can turn into a a transgender person having to placate a cisgender person’s feelings, which ultimately was caused by faulty assumptions of their gender or a simple language mistake in the first place.

You can learn more about proper pronoun usage on these sites:

Syllabus Statements

We suggest adding a statement like the following to your course syllabi:

Alternate Names: I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records.

Some resources with alternate phrasing:

The Data

Here are some resources with data about the lack of equality or specific challenges faced for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and researchers.

2020s

2010s

Additional Resources