The Spanish educational system is not a welcoming place for those who don’t meet gender expectations. Homophobia and transphobia, in all of their varieties, endure in most schools. Figures from a survey conducted by the FELGTB+ Federation among transgender people about their school years reveals a lack of knowledge and protocols among teachers as well as violence suffered by transgender people because of their sexual status. While there has been progress, education in Spain still hasn’t passed its diversity test.

FELGTBI+ took up with us the need to create an explanatory yet emotional audiovisual piece to be used as an educational tool for awareness raising, training and informing the educational community and families about transgender minors’ actual situation. A video to show the barriers and difficulties they face when the go back to school after the summer vacation, something that for many in the LGTBI+ community is an ordeal. A secret weapon to be used in schools in order to support talks given by professionals working on emotional-sexual, family and gender education.

The idea arose of putting together a story using a powerful, well-known metaphor. Remembering Sempé’s Le Petit Nicolas and working with artists such as Pedro Perles, Raúl Madplane and Perlita, we gave life to a colorful animation showing us a six-year-old boy who comes back to school as a girl, Nora. Nora comes back to school with an enormous, heavy backpack, full of fears, insecurities and social stigma. Every time she resolves a gender conflict thanks to one of her classmates, the teachers, or her own courage, the backpack shrinks. 

The story reveals very significant information, for instance that 58% of transphobia victims at school affirm that no one did anything to prevent the violence they suffered there, and that 83% believe they were unhappier at school. Meanwhile, 53% said their chosen name, in line with their gender identity, was either never or rarely respected.

 Nora and her shrinking backpack teaches us a lot. If at an early age we learn from school about the value of tolerance, the importance of empathy, and the wealth of diversity, there is no doubt that we will be able to build a better society. Thanks to Nora we can believe that stories of transgender children at school can have a happy ending.