Aidan Key is a speaker, educator, author and organizer whose gender-related work spans over two decades. His desire to increase the understanding and awareness of gender identity development in children, youth, and adults has placed him in front of many audiences including kindergartners, superintendents, judges, teachers, grad students, doctors, psychiatrists, and clergy.
Key regularly presents at university campuses and has been featured on national and international television, radio, internet and print articles. Key is the author of the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (Oxford University Press 2014) chapter covering topics related to the support and understanding of transgender children. He co-authored Gender Cognition in Children (Psychological Science, 2015), a paper exploring gender identity alignment in transgender children.
In 2001, Key founded the Gender Odyssey conference and, in 2007, the Gender Odyssey Family conference for families with transgender children. In 2012, he continued to build conference offerings by developing a two-day annual pre-conference seminar Gender Odyssey Professional, for professionals desiring more knowledge about trans and gender non-conforming children.
With Gender Diversity, Key guides schools, agencies and organizations in expanding their knowledge of gender diverse children and teens; offers best practices related to trans youth; emphasizes the inclusion of gender identity and gender expression in existing diversity policies, and helps to identify the practical, everyday ways in which to implement this inclusion.
Some of Key’s trans student inclusion policy work includes the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Michigan Department of Education, Washington Intercollegiate Athletic Association, and Seattle Public Schools.
Key’s other accomplishments include being the co-founder of Gender Spectrum, a Bay-area organization as well as the co-founder of Translations, Seattle’s Transgender Film Festival.
The Pride Foundation, Ingersoll Gender Center, Chicago Black Pride, Seattle Out and Proud, the Greater Seattle Business Association, and the Seattle LGBT Center have praised Key’s work. He has often been featured in the national media, including the Oprah Winfrey Show, NPRs Diane Rehm Show and Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Al Jazeera America, and Larry King Live.
Publications
- Trans Bodies, Trans Selves. Contributor, Child Chapter (Oxford University Press, 2014)
- Gender Cognition in Transgender Children (Psychological Science, 2015)
- Huffington Post, Contributing Blogger