HRA affirms our organization’s belief that every student in New Mexico deserves to walk through the doors of their school knowing they are safe, respected, included, and able to learn.

New research released by The Trevor Project on August 18, 2026, provides compelling evidence that for transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive (TGE) students, the policies and culture of a school can have a measurable impact not only on emotional well-being, but on attendance, belonging, and academic success.

The findings are sobering. Fifty-six percent of TGE students surveyed reported attending a school with at least one discriminatory policy or practice, while 61% reported experiencing at least one negative event at school during the previous year. Nearly half, 49%, experienced verbal harassment related to being LGBTQIA2S+. Nine percent reported being treated so badly that they ultimately left their school.

And discrimination does not remain confined to the hallway or locker room. It follows students into the classroom.

One-quarter of TGE students reported missing 16 or more days during the school year, meeting the study’s definition of chronic absenteeism. Nearly one-third, 32%, reported missing at least one day of school during the previous month specifically because they were concerned about their safety at school or traveling to and from school. Students attending schools without discriminatory policies and students who had not experienced adverse events were significantly less likely to be chronically absent.

But the research also gives us something tremendously important: we know what helps.

Nearly all students surveyed, 97%, reported having at least one supportive educator. More supportive educators were associated with stronger feelings of belonging and higher estimated GPAs. Students reporting 11 or more supportive educators had an estimated average GPA of 3.42, compared with 3.20 among students reporting five or fewer. Students who encountered positive LGBTQIA2S+ representation in at least one class also reported both greater school belonging and higher estimated GPAs.

That matters enormously for New Mexico.

What New Mexico Schools Can Do

HRA calls upon school districts, administrators, school boards, educators, counselors, and community partners throughout New Mexico to treat this research not simply as interesting data, but as a roadmap.

Protect students through clear policy. District policies should explicitly protect transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive students from harassment and discrimination and establish meaningful procedures for responding when discrimination occurs. Policies mean very little if students do not know about them or adults do not consistently enforce them.

Respect names, pronouns, and gender expression. Students identified respect for their names and pronouns as one of the concrete ways educators demonstrate support. Schools should ensure staff understand how to affirm students consistently and respectfully.

Invest in educators. One supportive teacher can matter. A school full of supportive adults can transform a student’s educational experience.

Training teachers, administrators, counselors, coaches, substitutes, and support staff to recognize and respond to anti-LGBTQIA2S+ harassment should be part of creating a safe learning environment, not an optional extra.

Support GSAs and student connection. Students who felt more connected to other LGBTQIA2S+ students reported greater belonging and higher estimated GPAs. Schools should protect and encourage Gender-Sexuality Alliances and other student-led organizations that provide safe opportunities for connection and leadership.

Make LGBTQIA2S+ people visible in education. Only 30% of students surveyed reported encountering positive depictions of LGBTQIA2S+ people, issues, or topics in at least one class. Inclusive curriculum is not about advancing an ideology. It is about ensuring students can see the diversity of the human family reflected accurately in history, literature, health, civics, science, and the arts.

Listen to students themselves. More than half of the TGE students surveyed had led at least one activism activity, and 75% of TGE students of color had participated in or led activism. These young people are not merely subjects of policies written by adults. They are leaders with valuable knowledge about what is happening inside their schools. They deserve meaningful seats at the table when policies affecting their lives are developed.

For HRA, the takeaway is straightforward.

Affirming LGBTQIA2S+ students does not distract from education. It helps make education possible.

When students feel safe, they attend school. When they experience belonging, they engage. When educators support them, they perform better academically. And when schools protect young people from discrimination rather than making them defend their humanity every day, students have more energy to do what they came to school to do: learn, grow, discover who they are, and prepare for their futures.

New Mexico has an opportunity to demonstrate what public education should look like: schools where every student, including every transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive student, knows that there is a desk for them, an adult who will stand beside them, and a community determined to see them succeed.

That is not special treatment.

That is education. That is human dignity. And that is what we owe every child in New Mexico.

M. A. D’Arrigo