When a third-grade teacher from Texas asked her mostly eight-year-old students what they wanted to be when they grow up, one of them wrote on the white board: “drag queen“. That response came from Keegan, now nine, a “gender creative“ kid, in his mother’s words, illustrating just one of the challenges facing educators as they accommodate the range of gender identities that students might express. Reuters has agreed not to fully identify the family and school at their request to protect them from potential harassment.

Educators, who for centuries have divided students into boys and girls, are now figuring out better ways to address students who are nonbinary, gender fluid and gender nonconforming, in addition to transgender kids, whose gender identity differs from the one they were assigned at birth. By one survey nearly three per cent of youth in Minnesota fall under these categories, identifying with neither gender, or both, or trans, or just defying a traditional male/female binary option.

Some school districts in the United States are using more gender-neutral language, addressing students by their preferred pronouns, which can be “they”, “them”, “theirs” for an individual, or the invented “zie”, “zir”, “zirs”, which are used as a substitute. Some schools also allow students to easily change their preferred name or gender identity.

The degree of acceptance for such students can literally be a matter of life and death, experts say. A national survey of 34,000 LGBT+ youth aged 13 to 24 released last week found 39 per cent seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months, as did more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth, according to the Trevor Project, a pro-LGBT+ group focused on suicide prevention.

Another study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2018 and based on a cohort study of 129 trans and gender nonconforming youth aged 15 to 21, found that suicide attempts plummet 65 per cent and depression symptoms fall 71 per cent if they are allowed to use their chosen name at school, home, work and with friends.

Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Show all 16 1 /16 Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan, 8, relaxes after a drag class at the home of his 'Fairy Drag Mothers,' Robby and Alex, near Austin, Texas. Keegan's parents sought the help of the drag community to help mentor their son, who identifies as gender creative and recently came out as gay, to aid him with his drag skills. His mother, Megan, says the family was surprised that Keegan came as gay at the early age of 9, but happy he is relieved to have the weight lifted off his shoulders Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan's drag name is Kween-Kee-Kee. Here he sits with his mother side-stage prior to Keegan's debut drag performance during the Austin International Drag Festival 2018 Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan, his brother Noah, 10, parents, Megan and Chris, take a trip with his drag queen mentors, Robby (right), 26, and Alex, 27, to Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts. The fabric brought was to be used for a new costume Robby would make as a gift to Keegan for his 9th birthday Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Robby, a drag queen, 25, applies makeup on Keegan during a drag lesson, as his home. As the years have progressed, so has Keegan's fascination with all things drag, evolving from a hobby into an upcoming paid performance. Keegan's mother felt in need of aid that she could not provide and so sought the help of the drag community to guide him. She contacted a married couple named Robby and Alex, who perform drag professionally, to help educate her son on performing and act as mentors Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan and his mother Megan chat in Keegan's room outside his drag closet where he keeps most of his costumes out of direct view Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan pours glitter on his head during his 9th birthday party. The glitter party was inspired by a Queer Eye episode. Keegan's family says he was motivated to try drag after watching RuPaul's Drag Race Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Robby helps Keegan rehearse for his upcoming inaugural drag performance at the home Robby shares with his husband Alex. Under the mentorship of the drag queens, Keegan's drag life has blossomed. "I think that we're trying to sort of redefine success and also telling this eight-year-old that if you are yourself and you continue to be yourself and you grow up and you do good and that that's successful and I think that he's getting that mentality from us. But also from a personal perspective, I know that I am getting a sense of community as well, a feeling we're providing something that is going to positively affect this young kid," said Alex. "As gay people, we kind of have the ability to choose our family and I think what I am getting out of this, is family." Robby said: "At the end of the day, that's really what all of this is about, right? (It) is just creating positive change for a kid who maybe didn't know that there was an option to do so." Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan poses for a photograph after completing his first drag performance during the Austin International Drag Festival 2018 Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan plays with his older brother, Noah, outside their family home following a drag lesson with his drag queen mentors, Robby and Alex Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Robby embraces Keegan, as Keegan's mother Megan, looks on following a rehearsal for Keegan's upcoming inaugural drag performance Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan and his brother play video games during a drag lesson at the home of Keegan's drag queen mentors Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan and his brother Noah, accompanied by their family, look on after arriving at the Austin International Drag Festival 2018 Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Robby, drag name EmmaSis, prepares to take the stage during the International Drag Festival 2018 Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan next to his family, glances at another performer during the Austin International Drag Festival Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Robby performs during the International Drag Festival Reuters/Amanda Voisard Nine-year-old helps teach educators about queer youth Keegan is comforted by his father, Chris, while attending a drag lesson at the home of his drag queen mentors Reuters/Amanda Voisard

The issue comes up long before adolescence as gender identity typically manifests itself in children by kindergarten. “What’s at stake is nothing less than the future lives of these children and our health as a society,” said Eliza Byard, executive director of GLSEN, a national advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students. “We still live in a world where the most marginalised are not receiving the support and affirmation that they need in order to achieve academically and thrive personally. And we all will benefit when that is true,” Byard said.

Robby, a drag queen, applies makeup on Keegan (Reuters/Amanda Voisard)

Transgender rights have risen to the fore in recent years and as LGBTQ people prepare to mark the 50th anniversary since the Stonewall uprising of 28 June 1969. The protests by patrons of a New York City gay bar, who fought back against police harassment, is considered the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Keegan is one student who has benefited from the Stonewall legacy. He plays soccer and video games and also likes to dress as a girl, using the name Kween-Kee-Kee when in drag, his parents say. Among his mentors are a pair of real-life adult drag queens. He usually goes by the pronouns “he”, “him” and “his”.

Keegan has found acceptance and support at his school in a conservative, Christian suburb outside of Austin, Texas, his mother said. “We expected a lot of pushback from the school and we expected some intolerance, but we’ve been very surprised.”

Keegan’s teacher paid close attention during the lesson on financial literacy, when other students aspired to be doctors and dentists and Keegan wrote “drag queen”. “One of the students asked, ‘What’s that?’ and Keegan kind of said ‘I don’t know’ and moved past it,” said his teacher. “But I do see little, like, hints of him trying to make people aware that this is something that he is, something that he does.”

Neither Keegan’s teacher nor his principal said they received any formal training on educating gender nonconforming students and have worked with intuition and observation. The teacher wants to let Keegan bring up the subject “at his own pace”.

His parents, too, have wanted to “let Keegan be himself” and not impose any norms on him. They said they were surprised when, five years after he first started wearing dresses and a full year after they began cooperating with a photographer on this project, he said he was gay.

Keegan accompanied by his family, glances at another performer during the Austin International Drag Festival 2018 (Reuters/Amanda Voisard)

Minneapolis Public Schools in Minnesota offer some of the most extensive guidelines for teachers, students and parents as part of its Out4Good program supporting LGBTQ children, outlining polices developed over 20 years on names and pronouns, gendered activities and facilities, and safety and bullying, said Jason Bucklin, the Out4Good coordinator. Some 2.7 per cent of Minnesota high school students identify as transgender or gender nonconforming, according to a 2017 University of Minnesota study.

A gender-inclusive curriculum can prevent the kind of bullying that typically begins in grade school and can evolve into homophobia by middle school and sexual harassment or dating violence by high school, Bucklin said. “It isn’t just about the transgender students,” Bucklin said. “It is about bringing everybody into the classroom and having the ability to feel successful.”

Reporting by Daniel Trotta, Reuters