Gender identity: More than a checked box

Lauren Sutherland Life Editor

Determining the proper distinction between physiological features and the experience of gender has long been a concern of administrators at national, state, city, local, and campus levels. New York City took steps toward adopting a more inclusive definition of gender on Oct. 30, when the Board of Health concluded its final hearing regarding a proposal to allow individuals to change the sex indicated on their birth certificate without the formerly required proof of sex reassignment surgery. Instead of proof of surgery, individuals would have to supply affidavits from a doctor and mental health professional, testifying that the individual should be considered a member of the opposite sex.

Advocates for the law change argue that for health and legal reasons, transgender individuals need documentation that accurately reflects their lifestyles and medical needs. The proposal to amend the 25-year-old legislation has been debated within the Board of Health for four years. According to city health officials, it will be voted on by the Board of Health in December and is likely to be enacted soon thereafter.

Although the change does not concern a state provision that directly affects the Vassar campus, New York’s progression towards a broader understanding of personal identity deals with gender-based civil rights issues that have been a part of the campus discourse at the College for years.

In April 2006, Vassar’s Faculty Policy and Conference Committee added the phrase “gender identity and expression” to the College’s employee anti-discrimination policy to ensure that those working at the school enjoyed the same comprehensive rights protections as the students. Since then, the College has discussed changes to other areas of campus life and administrative practices to improve the lives of its transgender students and employees.

According to Belinda Guthrie, Associate Director of Equal Opportunity at the Office of Disability and Support Service, Vassar has had a longstanding “awareness of the need to recognize the equal rights” of its students, an understanding that is reflected in many of its current practices. Some academic records, such as transcripts, do not specify the gender of students, and Guthrie said that the information on other internal records managed at the Office of the Registrar can be changed without legal proof of a sex change, provided the individual is committed to the new identity in some capacity.

“There should be some evidence that students are going through the process,” said Guthrie. “The College needs to know that in the future, [the students] are who they say they are.”

Guthrie has been working with Vassar Health Services to make sure that medical history records do not discriminate against students by forcing them to choose between genders on the forms. According to Director of Health Services Irena Balawajder, the first-year physical forms filled out by incoming freshmen were modified this year so that students are no longer forced to identify as either male or female, but instead are given one line on which to indicate their gender.

“It’s always a matter of how we can provide the safest and most appropriate care to students,” said Balawajder. With this goal in mind, Balawajder said that Health Services is currently making changes to the sexual history forms so that they do not discriminate against transgender students either. Not only will the forms allow students to indicate their preferred name and prefix, but Balawajder said that she has worked with student focus groups as well as Assistant Director of Campus Life John Schoonbeck to “find ways to frame sexual health history that will address gender differences [among students].” Balawajder also noted that the next step is to apply the “same respectful attitude” to student athletic forms. Coinciding with these changes is a student initiative to create more gender-neutral bathrooms outside of the campus dorms. The issue was first brought up in 2004 by the Feminist Alliance, but incited little action. The anti-discrimination policy change revived interest in the project, and a sub-group of the Queer Coalition of Vassar Students (QCVC) was formed to petition the administration for renovated campus bathrooms. On Thursday, Nov. 30, a discussion will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Rose Parlor so that students can provide their input on the initiative for gender neutral bathrooms in non-residential buildings.

According to QCVC Co-Chair Kelsey Smith ’07, the College has adopted an official policy to incorporate gender-neutral bathrooms into plans for future building projects and renovations. However, Smith said that the group of students is pushing for more immediate modifications. They have worked extensively with Guthrie to create a survey of gendered bathrooms and to prioritize the renovation of certain spaces such as the library, the College Center and the All-Campus Dining Center based on the volume of campus traffic.

In their approach to the neutralization of gendered bathrooms, Buildings and Grounds will have to consider parity of bathroom space. Even numbers of gender-specific and gender-neutral bathrooms will be maintained, and some bathrooms will require the costly construction of additional space.

Smith saw the renewed interest in gender-neutral bathrooms as an encouraging sign for students who may have previously felt that their interests were marginalized on campus. “The transgender community [on campus] hasn’t had much of a voice in recent years,” said Smith. “Students are starting to say that this is an important matter, and the administration has been so supportive in figuring out how to work together and get this done.”