There is an increasing trend of students coming out as transgender on college campuses. The term transgender 
encompasses a wide range of identities, appearances and behaviors that blur or cross gender lines. It includes transsexuals whose self-identified sex is different from their biological sex; cross-dressers who wear clothes associated with the opposite gender; drag queens and kings who cross-dress within performance context; and genderqueers who identify outside the two traditional genders.
Transgender students often face verbal harassment on campus, have hostile classmates, uneducated and indifferent faculty and staff, face housing difficulties, and run up against institutional systems that only recognize male and female gender categories. A main reason for lack of support for transgender students on campus and in educational institutions is the lack of understanding of their specific needs.
Here are some of the ways college campuses can become more inclusive for transgender students:
Updated Non-Discrimination Policies
Transgender student often face harassment, through verbal abuse, pressure to be silent, physical threats and even assaults, graffiti, hostility and denial of service. Non-discrimination policies need to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression to ensure transgender students do not face discrimination from campus staff and faculty during their college experience. However, it may not be sufficient to address the general needs of the transgender and transsexual community. Transsexual women face different difficulties from men, especially since initially after they start transitioning they may not look “female”, whereas transsexual men begin appearing “male” soon after starting hormone therapy. Increased focus on non-discrimination for the broad spectrum of gender and sexual identities within college non-discrimination policies is essential for providing students with a positive college experience.
Increased Awareness of Transgender Issues
Many campus staff and faculty, including the LGBT community, are often ignorant of what it means to be transgender. Transgender people may face years of shame, anxiety, and denial, before they begin to accept themselves. They may take hormones and have gender reassignment surgery to align their outward appearance with their inner sense of self. However, trans youth may begin to openly express themselves quicker, due to the proliferation of transgender individuals on the internet and social media, and may face less confusion and guilt.
Having regular educational sessions about transgender issues and including expert transgender speakers and performers in campus activities can make a huge difference in educating campus staff, faculty and students. College events and on-campus programs that include events focused on transgender issues can increase students’ inclusiveness and belonging with the campus community. Support groups, transgender student organizations, and more inclusion within existing groups could help provide the necessary support to transgender students.
Inclusive Healthcare Services and Insurance Plans
A particular area where transgender students face difficulty is related to the absence of adequate healthcare services. Students who are transitioning from one gender to another have greater need for health services, for example counseling and medical evaluations, but the lack of trained campus healthcare professionals is an impediment.
As many transgender people may seek to transition in their teens or early twenties, instead of later in life, transgender students will increasingly need assistance from campus counseling and healthcare centers for therapy, hormones and gender reassignment surgeries. Counselling and health services staff need to be educated on the issues faced by transgender students through trainings and coverage of transitioning services. College health insurance plans do not cover gender reassignment surgery as it is considered an elective procedure. As more individuals come out as transsexual during their student lives, educational institutions need to address their specific health-care needs by including hormones, and gender confirmation surgeries in health insurance plans.
Changes to Infrastructure and Documentation
Institutional discrimination is another issue unique to transgender students. Many educational institutions are already, and many will need to in the future, offer gender-neutral bathrooms, locker rooms, and housing options. Campuses must adapt their housing policies to ensure the fair, safe and legal treatment of transgender students through formal, written policies and dealing with accommodation assignments for transgender students on case by case basis. Colleges need to change forms and documents to enable transgender students to self-identify instead of providing the two traditional categories of male and female.
There is still a long way to go before college campuses become truly inclusive for transgender students. However, these areas of focus can help make the college experience positive for many trans youth. For more useful strategies on making your campus transgender-inclusive, check out special education conferences by expert speakers. Genny has published and spoken extensively on experience and needs of trans people, particularly gender nonconforming students. Genny‘s most recent works are The Lives of Transgender People (Columbia University Press, 2011), which was written with Sue Rankin, and the “Transgender History” chapter for Trans Bodies, Trans Selves (Oxford University Press, 2014).
