Gay and Lesbian Rights Group Calls SUU Discriminatory
None by Eric Ray
(KCPW News) A local gay and lesbian rights group says Southern Utah University is being discriminatory in its denial of campus housing to a 22-year-old transgender person. Last week, the school denied housing for Kourt Osborn. Osborn says the school denied him housing because the school claims he has not completed a gender transition.Yana Walton, Communications Director for the Utah Pride Center, says its not SUU's place to define what transgender means and calls the school's actions discriminatory. She says the school is making a mistake in its conclusion that a transgender person can't be truly male or female without surgery.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, 77 states and local jurisdictions have non-discrimination policies that are transgender inclusive. The Utah Legislature will consider an employment non-discrimination bill that includes gender identity in the upcoming session, however the bill does not include housing.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Frank said:
Does anyone really want men using bathrooms with girls, just because they in their heads think they are female in defiance of biology? Should gender be defined as what a person wants, believes, or thinks in defiance with human biology??? Why would anyone want to encourage such a horrible way of life and thinking?
3. Karel said:
Zach, thank you for your comment.
Frank, First of all, you don't even have the story straight.
Second, The horrible way of life for transgender people is trying to live as the gender their body indicates instead of the gender they indentify with.
I assume from your name that you are physically a male and from your comments that you identify as male. Imagine that you went to kindergarten and your teacher insisted that you were a female and you belonged in the line with the girls. Now imagine your entire life people are insisting that you are a female and should behave as a female, dress as a female, and cohabitate with females in the dorm. People who are transgender feel this way everyday until they finally start to live as the gender they identify with. This disagreement between body and psyche is out of their control and they are born this way.
I agree with Zach, please use the internet to educate yourself.
2. Zach said:
Frank, try some compassion for people struggling with gender identity. Is everything you are merely a matter of biology? If you can use the internet to post thoughtless comments, surely you can use it to educate yourself too.