Why accepting trans people needs to start at educationSarah Gibson, September 02 2013
Starting in the coming academic year Cambridge University has relaxed its regulations for the dress code of graduating students following a campaign by CUSU LGBT+.
All students will now be able to choose what style of dress they wish to wear and no longer are confined to subsets based upon whether they identify as male or female.
The majority of the media coverage of this has lead with sensationalist statements of men being allowed to wear skirts, just as it did when Oxford University made similar changes.
Unfortunately, there is very little coverage focusing on the positives for the Cambridge trans community and the actual effects this will have.
While the changes do technically allow the headline situations to happen they were simply a formalization of a practice that has been happening for some time.
It had previously been possible for trans students to wear whichever option best suited their gender identity and refusing them this may well have constituted discrimination.
