Using this sample of youth HRC created the “Supporting & Caring for Our Gender-Expansive Youth” Report. The term “gender-expansive” came out of this report to classify youth who did not identify with traditional gender roles but were otherwise not confined to one gender narrative or experience. This term allows us to talk about youth who don’t meet our “traditional” understandings of gender without putting their identity in a box.

• View More Resources on Gender-Expansive and Transgender Children and Youth
  

This groundbreaking report (available online or in PDF format) of 925 gender-expansive youth is designed to provide adults with a better understanding of these youth and to help adults find ways to communicate with and support all youth in their lives.

Organizations Focusing on Gender-Expansive Children and Youth

• Gender Diversity
  Gender Diversity increases the awareness and understanding of the wide range of gender variations in children, adolescents, and adults by providing family support, building community, increasing societal awareness, and improving the well-being for people of all gender identities and expressions.
• Gender Spectrum
  Gender Spectrum provides community information and training on support for gender variant children and their families.
• Stand with Trans
  Since 2015, Stand with Trans has been dedicated to developing programs, educational events and support groups to serve transgender youth. Their mission is to provide the tools needed by transgender youth so they will be empowered, supported and validated as they transition to their authentic life.
• TransYouth Family Allies (TYFA)
  TYFA empowers children and families by partnering with educators, service providers and communities, to develop supportive environments in which gender may be expressed and respected. They have well trained advocates and provide resource assistance for families experiencing discrimination or other difficulties in schools or other environments.
• Trevor Project
  The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ+) young people ages 13-24.
• Washington D.C. Children’s National Medical Center's Children's Gender and Sexuality Advocacy and Education Program
  This program offers a variety of resources to support families with gender nonconforming children, including a national support network and a Parents’ Guide.
• Youth Pages
  Safe Schools Coalition is an international public-private partnership in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, that is working to help schools - at home and all over the world - become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

Resources for Parents, Guardians, and Friends of Gender-Expansive Youth

• Ally Parents
  Ally Parents, a program of Stand with Trans, is a group of parents from across the country who have come together because they have transgender children--of different ages and at different stages along their journey. The program offers support for trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and questioning individuals who need a friendly ear to listen, and a space for other parents to seek resources, camaraderie, mentorship, and community.
• Children’s National Medical Center Gender Development Program
  Children’s National, a leading Children’s Hospital in the Capital Region, provides online and in-person resources and consultations for parents of gender non-conforming or transgender children.
• Advocates for Youth
  Advocates for Youth champions efforts that help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health.
• Family Acceptance Project
  The Family Acceptance Project™ is a research, education and intervention initiative, affiliated with San Francisco State University, that did the first research on LGBTQ youth and families and developed the first evidence-based family support model to help ethnically, racially and religiously diverse families to support their LGBTQ children.
• BOOK: Gender Born, Gender Made—Ehrensaft, Diane (Amazon)
  A groundbreaking guide to caring for children who live outside binary gender boxes. The author debunks outmoded approaches to gender nonconformity that may actually do children harm she offers a new framework for helping each child become his or her own unique, most gender-authentic person.
• Gender Spectrum—Understanding Gender
  This guide helps contextualize and explain the meaning of gender, the gender spectrum, and gender diversity. These understandings are crucial in understanding and supporting gender expansive youth.
• PFLAG—Our Trans Loved Ones
  Our Trans Loved Ones: Questions and Answers for Parents, Families, and Friends of People Who Are Transgender and Gender Expansive. Our Trans Loved Ones is a brand-new, updated resource. Written by PFLAG staff members, and created with the help of content experts, reviewers, and PFLAGers with experience to share, it is full of information, first-person stories, and expert input geared to those who have a loved one who has come out as trans or gender expansive.​
• Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference (Annual)
  This conference focuses on the specific issues, needs, and experiences of trans and gender-variant people with regard to the health of our bodies, lives, and communities. Everyone concerned about these issues is welcome to attend, including but not limited to: members of the trans and gender variant communities, partners, allies, family members, healthcare and social service providers.
• BOOK: The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professional —Brill, Stephanie (Amazon)
  This comprehensive first of its kind guidebook explores the unique challenges that thousands of families face every day raising their children in every city and state. Through extensive research and interviews, as well as years of experience working in the field, the authors cover gender variance from birth through college.
• TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation
  TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation works to support and serve transgender youth and provide resources to parents of transgender youth.

Resources for Educators

• Cultivating Respect: Safe Schools for All
  This program is a safe schools initiative sponsored by PFLAG, a group of parents, families and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons, who celebrate diversity and envision a society that embraces everyone, including those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.
• The Gay Straight Alliance Network
  Gay-Straight Alliance Network is a youth leadership organization that connects school-based Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) to each other and community resources. Through peer support, leadership development, and training, GSA Network supports young people in starting, strengthening, and sustaining GSAs
• Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
  GLSEN is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for ALL students. They provide curriculum ideas and other links such as: No Name Calling Week
• National Education Association
  The NEA offers resources on LGBTQ+ diversity in schools including sample curricula and publications on LGBTQ+ issues in schools.
• Operation Respect – Don’t Laugh at Me Program (DLAM)
  This organization focuses on creating schools free of bullying, ridicule and violence. Resources include curriculum guides and CDs.
• Time to THRIVE Conference
  HRC’S annual Time to THRIVE Conference promotes safety, inclusion and well-being for LGBTQ+ youth...everywhere! By engaging a broad audience of youth-serving professionals, including K-12 educators, mental health providers, pediatricians, religious leaders, recreational athletic coaches, and youth development staff (Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, scout leaders, etc.), we can create a thriving LGBTQ+ youth population.
• WATCH: Project Thrive: Intersectionality
  It's important when working with youth who have intersecting identities to understand that there is more than one factor at play when it comes to how they experience social structures, such as school, sports, and family.
• Learning For Justice: Resource Pages for Families and Educators
  Run out of the Southern Poverty Law Center, this website offers suggestions for promoting respect and teaching about diversity in the classroom.
• Safe Schools Coalition
  Safe Schools Coalition is an international public-private partnership in support of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, that is working to help schools - at home and all over the world - become safe places where every family can belong, where every educator can teach, and where every child can learn, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
• Welcoming Schools
  The HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program offers professional development tools, lessons aligned with the Common Core State Standards, and many additional resources for elementary schools on: Embracing family diversity, avoiding gender stereotyping and affirming gender; and ending bullying and name-calling. Welcoming Schools is inclusive of the many types of diversity found in our communities especially in regards to LGBTQ+ families and people.

Books About Gender-Expansive Youth to Learn More

• Books For Kids and Educators
  The HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools project provides this list of books that teaches children about gender identity and exposes them to examples of transgender and gender non-conforming people. The project also provides a list of books that teaches adults about gender identity, transgender and gender non-conforming youth and how to support them.