The Chicago Teachers Union’s newly ratified contract is being hailed as a landmark victory for LGBTQ+ inclusion in public education, with protections that safeguard trans students and queer educators amid growing national hostility.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) ratified the new four-year contract on April 14 with 97% approval from its membership. The agreement with Chicago Public Schools (CPS) goes beyond traditional labor issues, establishing some of the most comprehensive contractual protections for LGBTQ+ students and educators in the country.
The contract codifies key provisions such as gender-affirming health care, the use of affirmed names for students and staff, dedicated gender support coordinators in every school, support for Gender and Sexuality Alliances (GSAs) and stronger accountability mechanisms when violations occur.
These protections, once policy recommendations or informal practices, are now legally binding within the framework of the labor agreement and set an example for how educators across the country can protect LGBTQ+ rights in schools under a federal government that’s working to undermine them, said CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.
“We wanted to make sure that what we keep in our classrooms isn’t negotiable when a parent gets pissed off or when Donald Trump says he doesn’t like it anymore,” Davis Gates said. “Codifying these rights in our contract gives us a process to contest any rollback—and an impetus to organize.”
A ‘forcefield’ for queer and trans youth
For Davis Gates and other union leaders, these provisions are not abstract protections—they’re a necessary bulwark against a national wave of attacks on queer and trans rights. With the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ policies—many targeting queer youth and schools—the CTU saw the writing on the wall and wanted to take precautionary measures to enshrine LGBTQ+ protections in CPS, Davis Gates said.
“We know that trans people’s rights are in the crosshairs,” Davis Gates said. “So we had to be on pace to create a forcefield around our students and staff.”
For Bridget Doherty Trebing, an art teacher and chair of the CTU Women’s Rights Committee, the fight is deeply personal. Her teenage son is transgender, and she said she feels the weight of responsibility every day to ensure he—-and students like him—can feel safe, seen and supported.
“As a parent, you think about all the ways you’re responsible for keeping your child safe and happy,” Doherty Trebing said. “To feel confident that school is also a safe place—that’s huge. And that’s what this contract does.”
Trebing said the contract was not about critiquing CPS policy, which already included some LGBTQ+ protections, but about codifying and expanding them into enforceable rights.
“We now have strong language in our contract around gender-affirming healthcare, gender support coordinators and the use of affirmed names—not just for students, but for staff, too,” she said. “And they’re legally binding.”
Many of these protections were long advocated for within CPS guidelines, but they lacked consistent enforcement, said Dr. Corey Blake, a trans Latina educator who chairs CTU’s LGBTQ+ Committee. Blake said. At times, this inconsistency has led to unsafe learning and working conditions—particularly for queer and trans teachers, Blake said.
“A close friend of mine who is a trans woman had to switch schools last year because of repeated and targeted harassment,” Blake said. “Other teachers misgendered her constantly and students called her slurs. The administration did nothing to protect her.”
One of Blake’s biggest proposals was the creation of gender support coordinators, which are staff members responsible for ensuring compliance with LGBTQ+ policies, fostering affirming environments and responding to incidents of discrimination. The idea took root after Blake attended a presentation by another school district at the Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Florida.
“It’s the next logical step after policy—making sure there are people in every school who are tasked with ensuring those policies are actually followed,” Blake said. “That way, when there’s a violation, we have a structure in place to respond and protect.”
Building a web of support
The new contract also enshrines border infrastructure to support LGBTQ+ inclusion throughout the district.
At the national level, liaison roles will help schools develop GSAs, implement inclusive curriculum and provide direct support to LGBTQ+ students. Blake said GSAs are essential, especially as queer and trans youth face increasing isolation and hostility.
“GSAs are the lifelines that our LGBTQ+ students need to get through this moment in healthy, positive ways,” Blake said. “Every school should have one.”
The strength of these proposals came from the union’s bottom-up organizing structure, Davis Gates said. CTU members can submit proposals individually or through standing committees, and LGBTQ+ Committee proposals were vetted, approved and supported broadly before they reached the bargaining table.
Davis Gates said the LGBTQ+ Committee’s work was supported by a broad coalition within the union, including the Women’s Rights Committee, chaired by Doherty Trebing, and other educators who brought professional and personal insights into the process.
“Our LGBTQ+ Committee is led by a trans woman, while the Women’s Rights Committee is chaired by a mother of a trans student, so we had the educational, personal and parental perspectives at the table,” Davis Gates said.
A national model for resistance
CTU leaders said they hope the contract can serve as a blueprint for other unions and school districts facing similar political threats.
In many parts of the country, laws are being passed to censor inclusive education, ban gender-affirming care and limit the rights of queer youth. Davis Gates said Chicago’s approach proves that resistance is possible.
“In order to have this level of transformative change, it can’t come through one institution alone,” Davis Gates said. “You have to be connected to a broader struggle that includes the people you work with and the people you serve.”
Doherty Trebing echoed that message. She urged other educators not to “comply in advance”—a reference to institutions like Lurie Children’s Hospital, which suspended gender-affirming care for youth earlier this year amid political pressure.
“We always say in Chicago that we’re not just fighting for our own students,” Doherty Trebing said. “We hope this gives other locals guidance and hope.”
Blake said the most important lesson is to let queer and trans people lead on LGBTQ+ issues.
“Talk to your queer and trans staff and ask us what we need,” Blake said. “You’ll never be able to protect us if you’re not listening to us.”
For Blake, the fight is far from over. But for now, the contract is a milestone—and the most meaningful work of her life.
“This is about survival,” Blake said. “And now we’ve built a network that makes survival a little more possible.”