Artwork by Matteo Montero-Murillo (“Mueritos”). Used with permission of the artist.
by Kris Berg, MSW
I want to feel included and supported in [my social work program]. But the feeling of safety isn't there. –anonymous TGDI social work student, 2024 climate survey
Social work education is designed to equip all social workers with the expertise necessary to advocate for and alongside communities experiencing societal oppression, trauma, and violence. Yet, despite their stated commitments, many U.S. social work educational programs remain complicit in the systemic neglect and marginalization of transgender, gender-diverse, and intersex (TGDI) individuals, thereby perpetuating the very injustices they are tasked with dismantling.
As of June 2025, nearly 1,000 anti-TGDI bills are under consideration across the U.S., threatening TGDI people’s access to healthcare, education, legal recognition, and public accommodations. Meanwhile, the current presidential administration has moved to dismantle federal protections for and recognition of TGDI people, including issuing an executive order defining gender and sex as strictly male or female based on biological characteristics assigned at birth. These actions are part of a targeted, nationwide campaign to systematically dehumanize and erase TGDI people from all facets of public life.
The consequences of these attacks are devastating. A 2024 study by the Trevor Project found that anti-transgender laws caused up to a 72% spike in suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth in the previous year. Moreover, research consistently shows that pervasive discrimination and stigma directed toward transgender and intersex adults contribute to disproportionately high social inequities, including barriers to healthcare, education, and public spaces; economic instability; interpersonal violence; social isolation; and worsened health outcomes.
The Disconnect Between Principle and Practice
Given these realities, one might expect that social work programs—institutions ostensibly dedicated to training practitioners to respond to social crises—would ensure comprehensive training on the needs and lived experiences of TGDI populations. Indeed, the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) explicitly define gender identity, gender expression, and sex as critical dimensions of diversity that social workers must engage with in ethical practice. However, as TGDI communities face unprecedented assaults on their rights, safety, and well being, social work programs remain unprepared to respond.
To explore this gap between stated values and actual practices, I conducted a case study in 2024, helping to coordinate and analyze a climate survey on TGDI social work student experiences. The results revealed a pronounced disconnect between formal commitments to equity and inclusion and the lived realities of TGDI students.
As participating students shared:
Gender diversity in the world and our client populations…felt like a tense topic without clear and caring messaging from the school. –anonymous TGDI social work student, 2024 climate survey
I don’t think students themselves feel ready to interact with trans students, much less trans clients. –anonymous TGDI social work student, 2024 climate survey
Further, nearly half (46.7%) of participating TGDI students reported experiencing identity-based harm—including forced outing, repeated misgendering and deadnaming, and harassment—with TGDI students of color facing compounded racism and cissexism. Additionally, not a single participant reported satisfaction with TGDI representation within their social work courses.
These findings echo broader national trends. A 2022 study of 34 U.S. MSW programs found that most lacked an affirming educational environment and failed to integrate TGDI issues in their curricula. The absence of TGDI-inclusive education harms TGDI students by decreasing retention rates and academic performance, ultimately undermining the profession’s fundamental goal of cultivating a diverse and culturally responsive social work workforce.
Beyond its impact on students, this educational gap leaves social workers ill-equipped to uphold the field’s ethical and professional standards as outlined by the NASW Code of Ethics, exposing TGDI clients to uninformed, inadequate, or even discriminatory care.
Social Work Programs Must Lead, Not Concede
If social work programs are to align with their stated mission and values, structural reforms are needed. These efforts must especially be intersectional and attuned to the lived experiences of those rendered unintelligible by hegemonic gender/sex binaries, including (but not limited to): TGDI individuals who are people of color, women/femmes, youth, immigrants, and disabled/neurodivergent, along with Two-Spirit and Indigenous third gender peoples—communities often overlooked by macro-level E&I initiatives.
Fortunately, research provides clear, preliminary steps for improving TGDI E&I within social work education. As such, social work programs must:
- meaningfully integrate TGDI content into core curricula—rather than relegate it to electives or one-off discussions—to ensure this content is treated as fundamental to social work education rather than as niche or “specialized” topics.
- implement mandatory, regular, TGDI-focused competency training—led by paid TGDI educators and TGDI students—for faculty, staff, administrators, and placement supervisors.
- establish transparent, concrete reporting systems to identify and address program-specific identity-based harm, particularly incidents that fall outside the scope of university-wide reporting mechanisms. These systems should track and analyze reported incidents to identify repeated concerns among students and develop timely, macro-level interventions.
- regularly assess TGDI students' experiences through qualitative and quantitative feedback mechanisms, including anonymous climate surveys with questions about TGDI identities, as a means for identifying areas for improvement.
Bring trans people into the classroom…we are deeply intertwined with all social work practices, issues, and power. –anonymous TGDI social work student, 2024 climate survey
Additionally, programs must actively resist escalating academic censorship and reject external pressures that seek to even further dilute social work education and accreditation standards in the face of politically motivated attacks on marginalized communities. Social work education cannot credibly claim to train practitioners in anti-oppressive, liberation-focused practice while simultaneously erasing or minimizing the realities of ongoing violence and oppression from its curricula, policies, and strategic priorities.
Above all, program administrators must respond to TGDI students’ needs and safety concerns with the urgency, care, and concrete action these issues demand. Performative compassion and symbolic statements amount to mere lip service that only serves to conceal the “atrocious” harm that TGDI students and clients alike face on a daily basis.
The Role of Social Workers: Practice Beyond the Classroom
While institutional change must begin within social work programs, the responsibility to advance TGDI equity extends beyond educators and administrators, in accordance with the NASW Code of Ethics. Social workers across all levels of the profession—including students, new graduates, and seasoned practitioners—must actively confront anti-TGDI bias and integrate affirming practices into their daily work. As such, all social workers must:
- pursue ongoing TGDI-focused education that extends beyond introductory training or elective content.
- assess and revise practice tools—such as forms, case notes, and assessment frameworks—to avoid misgendering, pathologizing, or forced disclosure.
- interrupt harm in real time, whether it occurs in clinical settings, classrooms, supervision, or among colleagues.
- advocate for institutional and legislative policies that support TGDI inclusion, safety, and leadership.
Social workers, especially those who are non-TGDI, are at a crossroads; we must decide whether to follow through on our professed ethical obligations or continue to abandon the very communities we claim to serve. The responsibility to foster an equitable environment cannot rest solely upon TGDI social workers and clients advocating for their own safety—it is a fundamental institutional and professional obligation.
The stakes are not abstract. They are material. They are increasingly urgent. And the cost of continued inaction is measured in lives.
Kris Berg, MSW, (ask for pronouns) is an award-winning equity and inclusion consultant, graduate student in the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and co-founder of the Boston University LGBTQIA+ Student Resource Center. Kris holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in psychology and Master of Social Work (MSW) with a specialization in Trauma and Violence from Boston University. Learn more about Kris at rosebergconsulting.com.
About the Artist: Matteo Montero-Murillo (he/him), a.k.a. “Mueritos,” is a trans and gay artist and social worker born to Mexican immigrants in Bethlehem, PA. His digital art and comics explore queer, decolonial, and anarchist themes through bold and vibrant visuals. Learn more about Matteo at mueritos.com.