At McAuliffe, many kids identify in many ways. Some feel great about themselves, while others could be finding themselves, or being bullied, teased, and taunted about who and what they identify as. 

To start, let’s talk bathrooms. McAuliffe has two non-binary bathrooms, both located on the first floor. One is in the Nurse’s office, and the other is in the community office. Every grade has kids who identify as non-binary. So, the question is, why are both bathrooms on the same floor? And why are they so close? It makes it difficult for kids in other grades to use those bathrooms. 

Also, how are members of this community affected by dress code? Students have felt discluded, and feel like there have not been a whole lot of options. You may have seen students showing pride by wearing buttons, hats, socks, shoes, or other accessories.     

I interviewed a student that goes to McAuliffe. Here, we will see their view on pride at school.

Q: What is your view on pride at McAuliffe?

A: Pride at McAuliffe is 100 percent okay. I am friends with a bunch of people in the LGBTQ community and some of the teachers could probably work on being more accepting, like one of my friends asked a teacher to call them a different name and the teacher gave them weird looks. Also, in accordance with the dress code, some teachers would dress code, especially last year, biological boys for wearing khaki skirts.

Q: How do people treat members of the LGBTQ community? How do you feel about this?

A: Most of the world is nice about it, but there are times that people ask why are you gay, why are you trans, or something like that. Honestly, most of the time you can just say “Why are you straight?” and walk off to let them think about that.

Q: In your opinion, what does McAuliffe do well in terms of acceptance? 

A: I’m not very sure. Sometimes they have posters around, and some of the more supportive teachers have flags in their room but that is about it.

Q: In your opinion, what can McAuliffe improve on?

A: Honestly just being more supportive and not taking it as a joke or a phase. Like, next time you even think about asking anyone, “Why are you gay?” ask yourself ‘why am I straight?’ because your answer will probably be the same as theirs.

So, after seeing a person’s point of view and reading this, please do whatever you can to help include others. If we can do that, McAuliffe International School will become a much better place.