“In the spirit of honoring student autonomy, school counselors should not immediately assume what the student needs, but rather should begin by offering the student support and understanding. Through conversations, school counselors can garner a sense of individual student needs and work towards developing a plan to assist the student and student population” (Kurt, 14)

This passage stood out to me because it shows how complicated and individualistic the process is for helping transgender or gender nonconforming students. The experience varies wildly based on factors such as region, culture, religion and an individual’s home life. Every student has their own goals, barriers and levels of comfort. Confidentiality of the student makes these experiences more complicated as well. My first year of college, one of my roommates was a trans woman who was not out to her parents yet. Not only did I have to respect her name and pronouns, but I also had to respect her desires to be called a different name and set of pronouns in front of her parents when they’d come to the dorm to visit. I was asked to take down my rainbow pride flag temporarily while her parents were there in order to protect her from any possible danger. This was part of her individual experience which can differ greatly from someone else’s.