Science Educators and Researchers Must Uphold the Human Rights of Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex Persons

Abstract Trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons are—and have always been—an integral part of humankind. However, these communities are under attack. We live in a time of growing state repression and the normalization of political violence against trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons throughout much of the world, and we have a responsibility to understand these conditions and consider their implications for science education. In this commentary, we briefly outline the growing state repression of trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons, illustrating this repression with examples primarily drawn from the U.S. context, while acknowledging similar forms of repression happening in many countries. We discuss the ways that scientific discourses and ideologies are being co‐opted to rationalize these attacks, explain the responsibility this creates for science educators, and examine the important work that has already been done to understand and dismantle oppression and to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of these communities within and beyond science education. Finally, we offer recommendations for specific actions that science educators and researchers can take to uphold the human rights of trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons and communities.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Science Education
Published
2026-04-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.70069
Primary Topic
LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Science Educators and Researchers Must Uphold the Human Rights of Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex Persons

Heather Haeger, Nelly K. M. Marosi, Kathryn L. Kirchgasler, María Varelas et al.
Science Education
LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
article

Science Educators and Researchers Must Uphold the Human Rights of Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex Persons

Heather Haeger, Nelly K. M. Marosi, Kathryn L. Kirchgasler, María Varelas, Andrew P. Anderson, Lucy Avraamidou, Rishi Krishnamoorthy, Catherine Lemmi, K. Rende Mendoza, Sarah L. Eddy, Katherine Doerr, Sara Tolbert, Marco Reggiani, Rebecka Fingalsson, Shersingh Joseph Tumber‐Dávila, Jeffrey Maloy, Kathryn Ribay, Jennifer D. Adams, Tatiane Russo‐Tait, Brie Tripp, Sophia Jeong, Dax Ovid, Tina Cheuk, Sara J. Dozier, Michelle Friend, Quentin Sedlacek, Alexander Eden, Charlie K. Blake, Agustín Fuentes, A. M. Aramati Casper, Ronan O. Rock
article en

Abstract

Abstract Trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons are—and have always been—an integral part of humankind. However, these communities are under attack. We live in a time of growing state repression and the normalization of political violence against trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons throughout much of the world, and we have a responsibility to understand these conditions and consider their implications for science education. In this commentary, we briefly outline the growing state repression of trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons, illustrating this repression with examples primarily drawn from the U.S. context, while acknowledging similar forms of repression happening in many countries. We discuss the ways that scientific discourses and ideologies are being co‐opted to rationalize these attacks, explain the responsibility this creates for science educators, and examine the important work that has already been done to understand and dismantle oppression and to celebrate the lives and accomplishments of these communities within and beyond science education. Finally, we offer recommendations for specific actions that science educators and researchers can take to uphold the human rights of trans, nonbinary, and intersex persons and communities.

Science Education
Dartmouth College (US), University of Nebraska at Omaha (US), Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (US), University of Minnesota (US), Arizona Department of Education (US), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), University of Arizona (US), California Polytechnic State University (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), University of Georgia (US), University of Calgary (CA), University of Groningen (NL), Southern Methodist University (US), University of Strathclyde (GB), Malmö University (SE), University of Toronto (CA), University of Canterbury (NZ), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), Princeton University (US), Twin Cities Public Television (US), California State University, Chico (US), University of Illinois Chicago (US), Twin Cities Orthopedics (US), Frontier Science Foundation-Hellas (GR), Salem State University (US), San Jose State University (US), The Ohio State University (US), Reed College (US), Monash University (AU), California State University, Long Beach (US), University of California, Davis (US), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (US), Colorado State University (US)
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 17%
LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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