The COVID States Project #72: School Board Elections

The COVID-19 pandemic and the backlash against Critical Race Theory have led to increased attention to school board elections. To better understand who votes in these elections and who attends school board meetings, this report examines the demographic characteristics of individuals who say they attended a school board meeting in the past 6 months and those who say they voted for school board at some point in the past year.Turnout in school board elections has historically been very low. Although comprehensive sources of turnout in school board elections are lacking, prior research has estimated turnout in select races to be between 3% and 12%, with even highly salient special elections unable to top 30% turnout. Between high rates of uncontested seats and a lack of salience for these hyper-local positions, school board elections have rarely garnered much attention in the history of American politics. This has changed in recent years, with controversial issues of virtual schooling, mask and vaccine mandates, rules for transgender students, and concerns about how history is taught propelling school board elections to the forefront of numerous news cycles in recent months. The increased attention and salience in school board elections are demonstrated by the spike in the number of school board members facing recall efforts in the 2021 election cycle: According to Ballotpedia, there were 90 recall efforts in 2021, the highest number observed in the 12 years they analyzed. Local news have reported spikes in school board turnout in the 2021 election cycle, with Southlake Texas, Centerville Ohio, Virginia’s Shenandoah valley, and numerous other locales, reporting higher than usual participation.In the run up to the November 2021 elections, rancorous school board meetings garnered national attention and

Penguatan Solidaritas Sosial Melalui FGD Pada Santri di Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah Kotagede Yogyakarta

The existence of waria is often constructed as a marginal group which results in the emergence of discriminatory attitudes in society. On the other hand, the phenomenon that hit the transgender group also intersects with the humanist values of "how to humanize humans" which need to be supported without any differences between each other based on the contents of the 1945 Constitution Article 28D concerning Human Rights, including at the Waria Al Islamic Boarding School. -Fatah in Kotagede Yogyakarta, which was formed in 2008. This activity was attended by 22 participants with the aim of strengthening the social solidarity of the students in achieving group harmony, especially during the current covid-19 pandemic. Using the FGD / focus group discussion method and lectures related to understanding digital media literacy as a trend that transgender students can pursue to brand themselves and promote their respective businesses in a more modern way. The results of the activity show that there are discomforts encountered by the students when worshiping in public places, even though the group has the same needs as other humans, including spiritual desires / impulses. So that through this boarding school they are also given space to worship for their own reasons. The existence of community service at the Waria Al-Fatah Islamic Boarding School is expected to further strengthen tolerance with a focus on inter-religious spiritual activities.The existence of waria is often constructed as a marginal group which results in the emergence of discriminatory attitudes in society. On the other hand, the phenomenon that hit the transgender group also intersects with the humanist values of "how to humanize humans" which need to be supported without any differences between each other based on the contents of the 1945 Constitution Article 28D concerning Human Rights, including at the Waria Al Islamic Boarding School. -Fatah in Kotagede Yogyakarta, which was formed in 2008. This activity was attended by 22 participants with the aim of strengthening the social solidarity of the students in achieving group harmony, especially during the current covid-19 pandemic. Using the FGD / focus group discussion method and lectures related to understanding digital media literacy as a trend that transgender students can pursue to brand themselves and promote their respective businesses in a more modern way. The results of the activity show that there are discomforts encountered by the students when worshiping in public places, even though the group has the same needs as other humans, including spiritual desires / impulses. So that through this boarding school they are also given space to worship for their own reasons. The existence of community service at the Waria Al-Fatah Islamic Boarding School is expected to further strengthen tolerance with a focus on inter-religious spiritual activities.

Discrimination on Gender Binary Campuses

In recent years, transgender people have both grown in numbers and visibility in the united states. However, the issue of discrimination against transgender people has been a serious and widespread phenomenon in today's society. This paper discusses the transgender issues at large and how the issues negatively affect transgender students' college experiences in a variety of ways, including but not limited to institutions' failure to include "gender identity" in their nondiscrimination policies. The evidence from scholarly sources also suggests that religiously affiliated, single-sex and two-year colleges typically offer few protections for transgender students. Finally, the paper will examine institutions' past initiatives on the subject matter and provide recommendations for institutions to create a more gender-friendly environmnent.

STIGMATIZATION AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF MALE-TO-FEMALE- TRANSGENDER UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE NORTHEAST OF THAILAND

Transgender students are vulnerable to mental and physical health problems, impacting their quality of life (QOL). This research aims to study the stigma influence on the QOL of male-to-female transgender university students in Northeastern Thailand. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 765 male-to-female transgender students selected from 17 universities of the Northeast of Thailand using a multistage random sampling to respond to a self-administered structured questionnaire. The generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) was performed to identify factors associated with quality of life when controlling the effects of covariates, presenting adjusted OR and 95% confidence intervals. Among 765 male-to-female transgender students, more than half of them had good QOL (52.81%; 95%CI = 49.25-56.33). The generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) observed that factors associated with good QOL including moderate-low stigmatization (adj.OR=6.39; 95%CI = 2.72-15.02), good health behaviors (adj.OR=1.88; 95%1.47-2.86), no stress problem (adj.OR=1.81; 95%CI = 1.30-2.51), good self-acceptance (adj.OR=1.67; 95%CI = 1.37-2.03) and good social environment (adj.OR=1.41; 95%CI = 1.13-1.76). These findings could provide data to support evidence for family, community, societal and relevant sectors under the Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Education and local administration organizations to promote the quality of life in transgender people effectively.

Transgender student experiences of online education during COVID-19 pandemic era in rural Eastern Cape area of South Africa: A descriptive phenomenological study

COVID-19 affected education in many ways. As a response, various strategies were introduced to ensure students’ access to education, including online education. For most of the students, fulltime online education brought diverse challenges. This descriptive phenomenological study explored the experiences of transgender student regarding online education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Buffalo City Metro Municipality, South Africa. Data were collected by means of individual telephonic interviews with eight purposively selected transgender students using the snowballing technique. Data were thematically analysed using the interpretative phenomenological analysis framework for data analysis. The findings indicate that transgender students faced barriers in accessing online education, including (i) limited interaction, (ii) unconducive home environment because of stigmatisation, abuse and disruptions, and (iii) lack of access to the internet owing to the centralisation of internet access points, the unaffordability of data, unstable internet connections and an intermittent electricity supply. The findings further highlighted that transgender students face stigmatisation and abuse which hinder their learning. The situation is exacerbated by a lack of sources of income for transgender students, especially those who must make means for money to buy educational resources such as data for internet connection needed for online classes. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend continuous support for transgender students to ensure their continued engagement in online education, amidst the challenges they face. To this end, educational institutions should ensure that students have alternative means of accessing education so that those from diverse populations, settings and socioeconomic statuses are reached.

Sport Is for Everyone: A Legal Roadmap for Transgender Participation in Sport

Sport is a vehicle for social change and should be leveraged as such in 2021 and beyond to address matters of equality. In recent years, the public has paid greater attention to transgender athletes participating in sport at all levels—high school, collegiate, professional, and Olympic—despite the fact that transgender athletes have been competing in sports for decades. Backlash has arisen in general but also more specifically in response to several recent Supreme Court cases that have both solidified and extended rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other gender and sexual minorities. In turn, state laws that seek to limit the rights of transgender students to participate in sports have been drafted around the country. To be sure, these laws are often built on erroneous data, a misunderstanding of facts, and ignorance, but their existence continues to fuel the public debate on whether transgender athletes should be allowed to participate based on their gender identity or their sex as determined at birth.

Are evangelical Christians abandoning public schools?

Conventional wisdom suggests that evangelical Christians, often among the most vocal advocates of school choice efforts in the U.S., are promoting choice out of a sense of frustration with public schools and perceived bias against religion. Research by Marilyn Anderson Rhames, however, suggests that evangelicals are no more concerned about religious bias in their local schools than other Americans. Using data from the 2019 PDK poll into the public’s attitudes toward the public schools, Rhames analyzed responses to questions about pressure to “fit in” or conform; religious bias; bias against gay, lesbian and/or transgender students; and the perceived risks of improper civics, Bible, and comparative religion instruction. In most cases, evangelical responses were not significantly different from those of other parents. In some case, racial identity and ideology were stronger drivers of parental opinion.