Strategies for Advocating and Supporting Trans Communities
Uplifting Bereaved Trans Students in Higher Education: Part 2
M V. Pease and Karoline J. Trovato | 22 June 2026
Part 2: Supporting Trans Communities and Advocating for Inclusive Practices in Grief and Bereavement
Loss is universal; the ways bereavement impacts marginalized communities are not. Understanding how loss manifests within the marginalization experienced by trans people is essential to increasing awareness and engagement among university stakeholders. This blog post is part of a two-part series. As discussed in Part 1, trans people often experience loss shaped by stigma, violence, and social exclusion, leading to experiences of disenfranchised grief and gaps in inclusive institutional supports and policies around bereavement that can negatively impact health and educational outcomes. Now, Part 2 discusses specific strategies for supporting and advocating for trans people in institutions of higher education.
Supporting Trans People in Your Campus Community
The marginalization of trans people creates undue burdens on the community amid some of the most painful, tragic human experiences. Affirming care and support needs to happen at the individual and systems level. Faculty, staff, and administrators across colleges and universities must understand the different ways grief manifests within the marginalized experiences of trans communities. Similarly, treating death losses of chosen family and others close to trans people with the same reverence as if they were biological family members is crucial. This ethic of care is particularly applied to people in positions of power, such as faculty and staff supervisors deciding whether to approve or deny student bereavement leave, and administrators responsible for organizing memorials and services for deceased trans students.
Finding ways to affirm trans people, both in life and death, is crucial for systemic change. Using correct names and pronouns, celebrating gender diversity, and providing and advocating for resources and protections to uplift trans people within your educational institution and within laws and policies all communicate that trans people matter. Systems-level change at the institutional level is also critical to make a meaningful difference for bereavement within the higher education trans community. Specifically, it is important that institutional policy with regards to a death loss is not limited to “bio-legal” family members, but is inclusive of a culturally diverse understanding of family that recognizes the existence of chosen family members, who may also be university students, and their needs in bereavement (e.g., using appropriate names and pronouns during memorials, having community spaces for grieving, receiving excused absences for bereavement, etc.).
Advocacy can also include advocacy specifically for more inclusive bereavement policies and practices that include chosen family and other often disenfranchised forms of loss, including in workplaces and education settings where time away from responsibilities can be crucial for grieving. Recent advocacy efforts the authors led as graduate students at the University of Maryland proposed a more inclusive student bereavement leave policy,1 responding to how the existing policy disenfranchised many grieving students, particularly those mourning losses not recognized as “immediate family.” Through advocacy efforts within the University Senate and with stakeholders across campus, the excused absence policy was amended to allow students to receive excused absences for the loss of a close friend or family member, not just an immediate family member.2 This effort highlighted the value of both students and instructors alike to having shared language, expectations, and norms around bereavement through policy. Such a policy helps remove confusion and guesswork for all constituencies in the aftermath of a death, allowing students to engage in healing processes while still retaining the best possible chance to continue their studies. By enacting compassion through policy, the institution took a significant step toward ensuring that every student’s experience of loss is recognized as valid and toward developing a community characterized by care, respect, and dedication to student success amid life’s most painful and challenging moments.
Other institutions, such as Purdue University,3 have taken similar steps, and the authors also worked with a national bereavement organization, Evermore, to develop a toolkit encouraging others to take up similar efforts through their governance structures.4 Ultimately, working to create inclusive communities, campuses, and classrooms where trans people know that they are valued, cared for, and accepted can go a long way in providing a safe environment for trans people to experience joy and pain, to feel connection and grief, and to live fully and authentically.
The Need for Social Change
This Pride Month, amid the ongoing attacks facing the community, it is important to again emphasize that trans communities are strong, beautiful, and vibrant.5 Taking steps to celebrate this diversity requires a steadfast commitment by institutions of higher education to support and actively resist anti-trans and intersecting forms of oppression in all their manifestation. It is also valuable to remember that advocating for inclusive practices benefits all people in a campus community by promoting a more consistently compassionate response to some of life’s most difficult moments, helping create institutions where all people feel safe, valued, and able to thrive in the fullness of their experiences and identities.
References:
Pease, M. V., Trovato, K. J., & Jankauskaite, G. (2023, December). Senate Bill 23-24-27:Bereavement policies and practices toward an inclusive community of care. UMD University Senate. https://senate.umd.edu/governance/legislation/legislation-archive/875
Twyman, A. (2025, April). University Senate votes in favor of amended UMD bereavement policy. The Diamondbackhttps://dbknews.com/2025/04/27/umd-senate-bereavement-policy/
Office of the Dean of Students. (n.d.). Class absences. Purdue University. https://www.purdue.edu/odos/support/students/absences.php
Higher Education Leave Plan Committee. (2026, February). Implementing a student bereavement leave policy in higher education settings: What you need to know – Part 1. Evermore. https://evermore.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/HELP-Toolkit-Part-1-Key-Takeaways.pdf-1.pdf
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
