Understanding Unique Experiences of Grief in Trans Communities

Written By Benjamin Schaefer

Uplifting Bereaved Trans Students in Higher Education | Part 1

M V. Pease and Karoline J. Trovato | 1 June 2026

Part 1: The Unique Experiences of Grief in Trans Communities

Loss is universal; the impact of bereavement on marginalized communities is not. Understanding how trans students experience loss is essential to increasing awareness and engagement among university stakeholders. Trans people often experience loss shaped by stigma, violence, and social exclusion. Their marginalization can contribute to experiencing disenfranchised grief that is not publicly or socially acknowledged (often due to societal norms that deem the loss insignificant).1 In November 2025, Trans Day of Remembrance was observed to honor the lives of at least 27 trans and gender diverse people lost to fatal violence since November 2024.2 Trans people are over four times more likely to be victims of violent crime than cisgender people.3 Due to systemic anti-trans bias and violence trans people also experience higher rates of suicidality, exacerbated by anti-trans legislation.4,5 With up to 40 to 50 percent of college students reporting experiencing the death of someone close to them in the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of trans students in higher education in the United States, understanding trans grief and fostering empathy and support through institutional policies is critically important.6,7

This blog post is part of a two-part series. Part 1 discusses some of the distinct ways trans communities experience grief and bereavement in higher education. Part 2 will discuss specific strategies for supporting and advocating for trans people in higher education. 

Dimensions of Trans Community Grief Experiences

Trans peoples’ social networks are often composed of chosen families,8 or people who fulfill the role of “traditional” biological family systems, particularly emerging in response to rejection or lack of affirmation from their family of origin.9 Research by Trans Maryland, a multiracial, multigender, trans-led power-building community organization, found that 70.1% of trans Marylanders reported that chosen family was part of their social support networks. In contrast, the family of origin was part of the support network for less than half (47.5%) of trans residents in MD.10 When a trans person experiences a death in their chosen family, social scripts around grieving family often are not applied. Others might view the loss as less “valid” and not provide the same support they would to someone who lost a member of their biological family.11 This failure to recognize and validate a loss also extends to workplace bereavement leave policies and in higher education, which often contain strict definitions of which deaths qualify for leave or an excused absence.12 Additionally, the impacts of a trans person’s violent death can ripple through the community. Vicarious exposure to identity-related violence, such as through media coverage of violent deaths, can be a catalyst for vicarious grief in marginalized communities,13 as the act of violence serves as a reminder of the systemic harm faced by the community.Furthermore, when non-affirming biological families arrange memorials and make decisions after a trans person’s death, these decisions frequently use incorrect former names (i.e., deadnaming) and pronouns (i.e., misgendering).14 Witness disrespectful and invalidating actions like these can further complicate and intensify the trans community's experience of grief.15 

Grieving Trans Futures amid Sociopolitical Stress

It is important to recognize that grief in the trans community is not restricted to death loss. The very existence of trans people is currently under attack by the federal government16 as well as state legislatures17 across the country. Critical, lifesaving, and life-affirming communities and resources, including legal recognition of diverse gender identities and gender affirming medical care, are under direct threat. These threats have led to a form of political grieving18 or individual and collective grief experienced from larger sociopolitical events. For trans people, this can look like grieving hopes and dreams for the future.19 In the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey,20 47% of trans people considered moving to another state due to anti-trans legislation, and 5% already had done so, reflecting a collective grief as people consider uprooting their lives for a safer, better future

The Need for Social Change

Despite the pain of the present sociopolitical environment, it is important to recognize that trans communities are strong, beautiful, and vibrant.21 Creating inclusive campus communities allows all students to experience authentic connections outside of harmful, restrictive norms and gendered expectations. Amid co-occurring and interlocking attacks on higher education and marginalized communities, it remains crucial that colleges and universities recommit to steadfast support for trans communities. While understanding trans peoples’ bereavement is important on its own, it also is part of a larger goal for the freedom of academic institutions to facilitate social transformation and help create a world where the experiences of marginalized communities are valued, not disenfranchised, where no one has to fear persecution for who they are and have access to everything they need not only to survive, but to thrive.


References:

  1. Doka, K. J. (1999). Disenfranchised grief. Bereavement Care, 18(3), 37–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/02682629908657467

  2. Trans Remembrance Project. (2025). Insights and data. https://www.transremembrance.org/insights-and-data

  3. Flores, A. R., Meyer, I. H., Langton, L., & Herman, J. L. (2021). Gender identity disparities in criminal victimization: National Crime Victimization Survey, 2017-2018. American Journal of Public Health, 111(4), 726–729. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.306099

  4. National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center. (2018, September). Suicide risk and prevention for LGBTQ people. Fenway Health. https://www.lgbtqiahealtheducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Suicide-Risk-and-Prevention-for-LGBTQ-Patients-Brief.pdf  

  5. Lee, W. Y., Hobbs, J. N., Hobaica, S., Hayes, T. O., McKay, T., & King, K. M. (2024). State-level anti-transgender laws increase past-year suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary young people in the USA. Nature Human Behaviour,8, 2096–2106. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01979-5

  6. Cousins, C., Servaty-Seib, H. L., & Lockman, J. (2017). College Student Adjustment and Coping: Bereaved and Nonbereaved Students: Bereaved and Nonbereaved Students. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 74(4), 386-409. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228155989

  7. Conron, K. J., O’Neill, K. K., & Vasquez, L. A. (2022, April). Educational experiences of transgender people: Findings from a national probability survey. Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/transgender-higher-ed/

  8. Tensley, B. (2022, June 25). Why chosen family is more important than ever for LGBTQ people. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/25/well/lgbtq-chosen-families.html

  9. Johnson, K. C., LeBlanc, A. J., Sterzing, P. R., Deardorff, J., Antin, T., & Bockting, W. O. (2020). Trans adolescents’ perceptions and experiences of their parents’ supportive and rejecting behaviors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67(2), 156–170. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000419

  10. Pease, M. V., Trovato, K. J., Clements, Z. A., & Galupo, M. P. (2025, January). Social support and trans communities in Maryland: Implications for social support and bereavement resources, policies, and practices. Trans Maryland. https://doi.org/10.13016/jvyb-l2m4

  11. Harper, A., O’Connor, R. C., Dickson, A., & O’Carroll, R. E. (2016). Motherhood and the bereavement experience after stillbirth: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. Palliative Medicine, 30(6), 593–604. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269216316634601

  12. Lynch, K. (2021, May 24). How the pandemic has exposed the gap in bereavement support. Forbes Human Resources Council. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/05/24/how-the-pandemic-has-exposed-the-gap-in-bereavement-support/

  13. Lee, A., Wade, J., Coleman, A., Smith, K., & Whitt Glover, M. (2023). The vicarious intersectional trauma (VIT) conceptual model: A framework for studying the health-related impact of exposure to intersectional violence on social-media. Journal of Black Studies, 54(6), 490-512. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219347231177401’

  14. McNamara, B. (2017, October 12). Why incorrectly identifying transgender people who have died is a lack of respect. Teen Vogue. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/why-incorrectly-identifying-transgender-people-who-have-died-is-a-lack-of-respect

  15. Rummler, O. (2023, January 12). They’re erased: When trans people are misgendered after death, the consequences extend beyond paper. The 19th. https://19thnews.org/2023/01/trans-people-misgendering-death-certificates/

  16. National LGBTQ+ Bar Association. (n.d.). Trump anti-LGBTQ+ executive order litigation tracker. https://lgbtqbar.org/programs/advocacy-resources/trump-executive-order-tracker/

  17. American Civil Liberties Union. (2025). Mapping attacks on LGBTQ rights in U.S. state legislatures in 2025. https://www.aclu.org/legislative-attacks-on-lgbtq-rights-2025

  18. Harris, D. (2022). Political Grief. Illness, Crisis & Loss, 30(3), 572-589. https://doi.org/10.1177/1054137321999793

  19. Trans Lifeline. (2026). Post-election grief. https://translifeline.org/post-election-grief/

  20. U.S. Trans Survey (2026). Health and wellbeing: Findings from the 2022 US trans survey.https://ustranssurvey.org/

  21. Pease, M V., & Galupo, M. P. (2025). Simply being: A found poem for the trans community from trans mental health professionals and trainees. Qualitative Psychology, 12(3), 297–310. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000305

Benjamin Schaefer
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Segregating the City of the Dead