Genderqueer community at SF State breaks gender labels

[MadelineB]

Genderqueer community at SF State breaks gender labels
Posted by Erin Dage on November 7, 2012

http://www.goldengatexpress.org/2012/11/07/genderqueer/


SF State student Jess Nguyen (Photo by John Ornelas / Xpress)

Gender, race and class are all semantic devices used to categorize a person and put them into a certain box. But what happens when people refuse to be put in a box in terms of gender?

Kevin Kinney, associative director of residential life at SF State, is one of the people responsible for bringing a gender identity and gender nonconformity accommodation policy to residential housing within the last year.
"It's really about being true to yourself and realizing who you are," Kinney said. "Sometimes it's not so easy to just check 'male' or 'female' for students."

Jess Nguyen, a first-year art student, is genderqueer.

Nguyen uses the pronouns they, them and their, but is not adverse to having people use he and she interchangeably. Nguyen views SF State as a welcoming campus with organizations such as Everything Great About You and PRIDE at SF State helping them with their needs as a gender variant individual.

In meeting the needs of students who identify as nonbinary trans*, SF State assists the housing and public restroom needs of those who seek it.

[Constance]

This is the comment I left on the article:

I'm an MTF transwoman, and the biological father of a genderqueer child. This child is usually my daughter, but there are times when he's my son. They are involved in something quite similar at their university.

Articles like this renew my hope in humanity.

[Brooke777]

I like that comment. It is nice.

[Your Humble Savant]

the Gender Umbrella Club on campus here (of which I'm the PR Officer for) is trying to do similar collaboration with the Housing & Greek Life Office. So far, we've gotten more gender-neutral bathrooms put in both the dorms and on campus at large, and are currently looking to get certain areas of the dorm buildings as safe spaces for the LGBT/Gendervariant communities, as well as getting "Other" as an option for the university's application under "Gender".

Liked the article immensely