Estee Morrison

Missouri governor signs bills that ban gender-affirming care for minors; bars trans girls, women from female sports.

As politicians and activists push for limits on discussions of race, gender and sexuality, some students say the measures targeting aspects of their identity have made them less welcome in American schools — the one place all kids are supposed to feel safe. For students of color and LGBTQ+ kids, it can feel like their very existence is being rejected. Among them are a transgender student at a Pennsylvania school where teachers are directed to use only students' birth names, a bisexual student in Florida, and a Black student outside Nashville alarmed by efforts to restrict lessons on Black history.