Transgender Students in Schools
The film, “TransGeneration” by Jeremy Simmons, is a documentary that follows the lives of four transgender individuals who struggle not only with their own identity, but how their identify fits into the narrow scheme people have when constructing gender. All four of these individuals are in college and are faced with various academic, social, and personal issues in regards to their gender identity. The individuals in this documentary would definitely relate to some of the issues brought up in the article “On Campus, Rethinking Biology 101,” by Fred Bernstein. In the article, Luke Woodward shares some of his experiences as a transgender at Brown University and Zachary Strassburger discusses his life at Wesleyan University as a transgender as well. Bernstein surfaces multiple controversies that surround the issues about transgenders on college campuses. With the help of personal experience from Luke and Zachary, Bernstein touches on issues about housing situations, bathroom policies, sports teams, and the concept of transgenders at solely female colleges.
Housing for transgender students on college campuses poses a debatable problem. According to Bernstein, schools such as Brown, Sarah Lawrence and Wesleyan have made great strides to accommodate the needs and wishes of transgender students. However, Bernstein does not mention how straight students feel about living with students who identify as transgender. Another debatable issue that is brought up in Bernstein’s article is the presence of transgender students at all female colleges. Bernstein uses Smith and Barnard as examples of schools where many students refute eliminating female pronouns from their student constitution because they argue, “a lot of us come here because we choose to be in an environment where women are the primary focus.” In the documentary, Lucas is a person who attends Smith College and identifies as a female-to-male transsexual. Many of the arguments Bernstein makes about transgenders at all female colleges relate to the exclusion Lucas felt identifying as a male at Smith.
Bathrooms are another big dilemma not only on college campuses but in middle and high schools as well. Bernstein cites Luke’s experience as evidence to support single stall bathrooms “so students who don’t look clearly male or female can avoid harassment.” The summer before entering his senior year of college, Luke had chest surgery to remove his breasts. He proudly announced that after the surgery, the quality of his life was significantly better. He recollects before the surgery entering a woman’s bathroom and people yelling, “Oh my God, there’s a man here” and would then proceed to call security. If he were to enter a men’s bathroom, he would merely hope no one would notice his breasts and identify his as a female. In the documentary Raci is faced with other’s perceptions as she has to struggle to pass for a biological female. In her efforts to so, she continues to buy cheap hormones from street dealers to maintain her image.
The bathroom issue has been spreading across the United States as legislators debate the idea of single stall bathrooms in public schools to accommodate for transgender individuals. In Connecticut, a bill was recently passed that outlawed transgender discrimination. The majority of the five-hour debate, according to the governor, was “which bathroom should be used by someone whose sexual identity is in doubt?” The following article continues to discuss this legislation that protects transgenders against discrimination.
http://ctmirror.org/story/12662/house-passes-bill-outlawing-transgender-discrimination
To conclude, transgender individuals have had a history of confusion about their identity and hardship in response to how they choose to portray it for decades. Bernstein states, “Although transgender people around the country have been victims of hate crimes, students like Zachary say they do not feel discrimination or fear on campus; they know they are lucky to live in environments – small private colleges – with traditions of tolerance.” Through various accommodations, such as single stall bathrooms and housing alterations, many transgender individuals are beginning to feel much more accepted and supported on various college campuses. The documentary, “TransGeneration”, further explores the struggles and triumphs college students experience in regards to their transgender identity.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think transgender individuals feel safer, more accepted, and their needs more acknowledged at a small college verses a big university? Does a small school allow for more activism to take place and for more information to be readily passed out to students? Or does being on a small campus limit the number of other transgender students one can identify with?
2. Should colleges make special housing options available to transgender students on their campuses? If housing preferences are made based for transgender students, does that mean other accommodations should be made bisexual students? If these accommodations were made, how would students, who were assigned to room with those identifying as gender neutral or transgender, feel living with them?
3. Are single stall bathrooms in schools a good idea? Or is allowing students to use the bathroom with the gender they identity with a better idea? Do you think there would be instances where people would choose to dress as the opposite sex on a whim to enter the opposite sex’s bathroom?
