The Student Government Committee on Student Outreach passed a resolution Monday night proposed by Spectrum’s political activism committee to amend the University’s non-discrimination clause to include and protect those at the University on the basis of gender identity and expression.
PS-01, the University’s Equal Opportunity Policy, states that one cannot be discriminated against based on sexual orientation. However, it wasn’t until recently that members of Spectrum, the University’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer student organization, discovered that gender identity and expression is not included in this policy, said Matthew Patterson, physics graduate student and member of the political activism committee.
Patterson said the resolution would protect transgender students from harassment and discrimination. Many transgender students and staff often worry about their job security if they openly express their gender identity, Patterson said.
“As of now, harassment on the basis of gender identity and gender expression is not explicitly prohibited,” Patterson said. “So if a student is experiencing harassment by a professor, boss, or fellow student, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be taken seriously if they make a formal complaint.”
The resolution was read and discussed at the committee’s meeting Monday, and the committee asked Spectrum members questions on the matter.
“I feel that addressing the issue is needed in the community, and legally something needs to be done,” said Sen. Carolyn Hills, Graduate School.
Now that the committee has approved the resolution, it will be presented to SG Senate where they will decide whether or not to pass the resolution Wednesday.
The new policy states SG should support the addition of “gender identity” and “gender expression” to PS-01 where it lists the categories it protects, including race, gender and religion. The resolution also urges the Faculty Senate to support the change, Patterson said.
“We know we can’t actually get PS-01 changed without strong support from students, faculty and staff,” Patterson said.
Patterson said he hopes the Faculty Senate will take action to make the change, but at the moment, the political activism committee is more concerned about getting the resolution passed through SG.
“This is very much a conservative campus, and although many members of our community are totally wonderful on this issue, there are plenty of opportunities for institutional and personal transphobia to rear their ugly heads,” Patterson said.
Usually, when attempting to pass a resolution, one would go to the Committee on Student Outreach and then to SG Senate. However, many in Spectrum thought the resolution was common sense, and Morgan Taylor, the speaker who introduced the resolution at Wednesday’s SG meeting, moved that the resolution skip the usual process of being referred to a committee and go straight to the full Senate.
The senators, on the other hand, decided Spectrum’s political activism committee would have to go through the entire process to potentially have the resolution passed.
“The conversation Wednesday about the resolution seemed to go back and forth, and some senators even objected,” Patterson said. “I’d like to think that the objections were solely based on the fact that the senators wanted to know more about the resolution before passing it.”
With an exception to organizations exempt under federal law, all registered student organizations must act in accordance with the University’s nondiscrimination policy. If the resolution were passed, this would prevent students from being denied membership in an organization because of gender identity and expression, Patterson said.
“We all dress and act in ways that are perceived as gendered, even if we make the conscious choice to be as ambiguous as possible,” Patterson said. “Adding protection to gender identity and expression would be good for everyone, whether they’ve ever had to worry about this or not.”
According to a recent study by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality, the unemployment rate among transgender people is double that of the population as a whole, and 47 percent of transgender people have said to have experienced an unfavorable job outcome because of their identity or expression, Patterson said.
Patterson said he was shocked to learn of the online statistics.
“It’s inexcusable that people should be treated this way for any reason,” he said. “If we care at all about the well-being of all the members of the LSU community, it’s not optional to have institutional policies to prevent this kind of discrimination.”
 
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contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]