Youth | Discrimination | Connecticut

All Connecticut public school students have the right:

• Pour être en sécurité à l’école sans être victime d’intimidation,
• Pour accéder à des informations sur les sujets LGBTQ+, y compris les sites Web éducatifs,
• S'habiller et se présenter d'une manière cohérente avec son identité de genre,
• À la liberté d'expression. Cela signifie que vous avez le droit d'exprimer des idées susceptibles d'offenser autrui et d'être en désaccord avec autrui, à condition de les exprimer de manière respectueuse.

All Connecticut public and many private school students have the right:

• To be protected from discrimination or harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or HIV status,
• To form a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) that gets treated the same as every other non-curricular group. This means equal funding, access to facilities, and the ability to choose your group’s name.

Outside of school you have the right:

• Être protégé contre toute discrimination fondée sur votre orientation sexuelle réelle ou perçue, votre statut VIH ou votre identité de genre dans l’emploi, le logement et les lieux publics (comme les restaurants ou les magasins).
• To give your own consent to get tested for HIV without your parents’ permission. For more specific information, see the “HIV/AIDS” Issue Area.
• Signaler à la police toute personne, à l’intérieur ou à l’extérieur de l’école, qui vous fait du mal physiquement, vous menace ou vandalise vos biens.

Federal law also protects you from discrimination at school

You are protected from discrimination in public schools or other schools that receive federal funding because of Title IX. Title IX is a federal civil rights law, and it prohibits discrimination based on sex – including sexual orientation or gender identity – across the country.

Yes. Since 1991, Connecticut has prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in public and private employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit (Conn. Gen. Stat. sec. 46a-81c to 46a-81q). In July 2011, these laws were extended to protect transgender people when Governor Malloy signed Public Act 11-55, An Act Concerning Discrimination, into law. The act, which went into effect on October 1, 2011, added “gender identity or expression” to Connecticut’s list of protected classes. For more detailed information visit GLAD’s and the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund’s (CWEALF) publication, Connecticut:  Legal Protections for Transgender People, at: Connecticut : Protections juridiques pour les personnes transgenres

Yes, Connecticut Gen. Stat. Sec 10-15c prohibits discrimination against public school students in activities, programs and courses of study based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression as well as race, color, sex, religion and national origin. For more information about the Connecticut anti-discrimination law and how to file a discrimination complaint, see the “Discrimination” Issue Area.

Yes, Connecticut has created guidance for school districts on the rights, responsibilities and best educational practices for transgender and gender non-conforming students.

The guidelines include the following:

• Les écoles doivent respecter le nom et les pronoms d’un élève transgenre ;
• Les écoles doivent respecter la vie privée des élèves transgenres en ce qui concerne toute information médicale, nom précédent, etc.
• Le nom et le sexe figurant dans le dossier d’un étudiant doivent être conformes à l’identité de genre de l’étudiant ;
• Les étudiants transgenres devraient pouvoir utiliser les toilettes, les vestiaires et les vestiaires qui correspondent à leur identité de genre ;
• Dans toutes les activités séparées selon le sexe (y compris les activités sportives), les étudiants transgenres devraient pouvoir participer d’une manière compatible avec leur identité de genre.

For more information on this guidance, see “Guidance on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for Transgender Students”:

Guidance on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for Transgender Students 

Yes. Connecticut non-discrimination law defines “sexual orientation” as either “having a preference for heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, having a history of such preference or being identified with such preference…” (Conn. Gen. Stat. sec. 46a-81a (emphasis added)). This language includes discrimination based on perception. For example, if a person is fired because they are perceived to be gay, they may invoke the protection of the anti-discrimination law regardless of their actual orientation.

Similarly, the law defines “gender identity or expression” as:

[A] person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth… (Conn. Gen. Stat. sec. 46a-51(21) (emphasis added)).

Possibly. Federal law prohibits sex discrimination in public schools that receive federal funding. Depending on the situation, harassment of LGBTQ+ students may be actionable as sex discrimination (Visit, e.g., Ray v. Antioch Unified School District, 107 F. Supp. 2d 1165 (N.D. Cal. 2000) (stating that attacks based on a student’s perceived sexuality constitute sex discrimination)). Harassment of transgender students in particular is actionable. Several federal courts have held that the federal anti-discrimination law, Title IX, prohibits discrimination based on gender identity (Visit, e.g., Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School District No. 1 Bd. of Educ., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 9362 (7^ème Cir. 2017); cf. Bd. of Educ. v. U.S. Dep’t of Educ., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131474 (S.D. Ohio 2016)).

Les plaintes peuvent être déposées auprès du coordinateur du Titre IX de votre école, ainsi qu'auprès de :

Bureau des droits civils
Le ministère américain de l'Éducation
Bureau de poste et palais de justice John W. McCormack, salle 222
Place de la Poste
Boston, MA 02109

De plus, certains types de discrimination et de harcèlement peuvent violer les droits constitutionnels d’un étudiant.

There are many ways to approach the issue. One is to ask for support from a friend, teacher or counselor, and talk to the people who are bothering you. That is not an option, however, if you don’t feel safe doing so.

Take a look at your school’s policies and notify whoever is supposed to be notified – usually a vice principal or Title IX coordinator. You may wish to document any incidents of harassment or discrimination in writing. Once you meet with the right officials, make a note of what you told them and on what date and ask when they will be getting back to you with a response. If they don’t help you or don’t follow through, you may wish to write to the superintendent and school board and ask them to end the discrimination.

At the same time, or after contacting the administration as set out above, you may want to send a copy of your complaint to the State Dept. of Education. While they do not have an explicit policy on complaints and they have no obligations under the non-discrimination law, you could request that they intervene on your behalf. Contact Office of Public Information, Conn. State Dept. of Education, 165 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT  06145. Their phone number is (860) 566-5677 and their website is http://www.state.ct.us/sde/

If the above methods fail to stop the discrimination, you may also wish to consider taking legal action. Contact Réponses GLAD for attorney referrals.

Yes, in 2017 Connecticut passed Public Act 17-5, An Act Concerning the Protection of Youth from Conversion Therapy.

State and national medical, mental health, and child welfare organizations all oppose the practice of conversion therapy, a practice which seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Extensive professional literature shows the practice to be both ineffective in changing sexual orientation or gender identity and harmful to youth. Young people who have been subjected to conversion therapy are at increased risk of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, and illegal drug use.

Under the law’s provisions, any licensed health professional who practices conversion therapy would be subject to discipline by the Department of Public Health up to and including the loss of their professional license.