New policy protects transgendered

By Allison Walker, December 2011
Staff Writer

Following the models set by more than 400 universities around the country, as well as Wal-Mart, the Maricopa County Community College District Governing Board voted on August 23, 2011 to readjust the colleges’ nondiscrimination policy to prevent inequity to students and faculty who identify themselves as being a gender different than their biological sex.

“It was long overdue,” said Dale Heuser, president of Equality Maricopa and health and exercise science faculty member at Paradise Valley Community College.

Courtesy of Dale Heuser

Dale Heuser, exercise science faculty, believes the new policy was long overdue.

The MCCCD employee-run group first presented the proposition in 2003, but was unable to move it out of committee. In 2008, the same proposition was introduced to the governing board with similar results. It wasn’t until 2011 that Equality Maricopa was able to present the proposition to a favorable governing board and have the policy changed.

The year 2008 saw an environment too hostile for the proposition and a last minute reduction of podium time allowance from five to three minutes sent speakers’ presentations into disarray.

Equality Maricopa used the disappointment as a learning experience and prepared a video for their second attempt , which gave supporters an opportunity to speak in less stressful conditions. The endeavor became a success when 22 volunteers came to the final board meeting to speak in favor of the proposition; they launched the motion into a 3-2 vote in favor of passing the policy change.

Ashlee Stierstorfer is president of PVCC’s lesbian, gay, bi, transgender club, PRIDE, which stands for People Respecting Individuality, Diversity and Equ ality. She reports that the club remained active throughout all efforts to change the policy by attending board meetings, making buttons, and passing around petitions. Stierstorfer said, “PRIDE Club is overjoyed about the passing of the policy. Now there is a heightened sense of safety with being who everyone is.” She also noticed that membership has since increased and many of the members seem more motivated to become active in campus and volunteer activities with the club.

Safety was a large motivator for Heuser’s insistence on promoting the proposition. He recalled the story of a teacher refusing to use the proper pronoun when referring to a transgender student. Lack of empathy by teachers often encourages students to perform the same verbal attacks on a transgender student, inciting students to transfer to different schools where they will be able to “remake” themselves without having to fear bullying. The addition of gender identity to the nondiscrimination policy will take transgender students out of harm’s way.

Heuser also predicts an increase in student enrollment within the District. “At the governing board meeting, when they announced the change, all of the students are texting,” he said. “And someone showed me a cell phone, and it was a response tweet from someone saying, ‘I am coming back to school.’”

Despite the enthusiastic response by students and faculty, one volunteer attended the board meeting to speak against the proposition:

Lynn Allred, director of communications for Family Watch International, an organization promoting and preserving family-based solutions through the marriage between a man and a woman, opposed the policy change and arrived at the governing board meeting to speak in protest against the inclusion.

While the Family Watch International recognizes the right of transgender people to be protected from discrimination and has sympathy for the challenges transgender individuals must face, it feels that the general policies against discrimination sufficiently protect transgender people and that any changes made to the nondiscrimination policy that specifically include gender identity are not in the best interest of the students, faculty or larger community.

In Allred’s statement given to the governing board, she said, “This proposal is a radical departure from the existing policy. … Under this proposal, the individual would determine the behavior that best expresses their gender, and the college would be prohibited from regulating such expressive behavior.”

Allred also expressed concerns regarding gender-specific sports teams, bathrooms and locker rooms.

It is the responsibility of the National Collegiate Athletic Association to regulate policies regarding team sports. According to the NCAA website, transgender student-athlete policies were first proposed in October 2010 and have been in place since August 2011, which specify what team an athlete may participate with. The regulations abide that any transgender person receiving testosterone treatment or suppression must play on a men’s team, but cannot participate on a woman’s team without changing it to a mixed-team status.

Julian Melson, a GateWay Community College graduate, was born biologically female and made the transition to male by taking testosterone and changing his legal documents. According to Heuser, Melson eloquently described his opinion over concern about gender-specific restrooms by saying, “Do you really want me to use the woman’s restroom?”

The Student Handbook provided in each PVCC planner reads under section AR 2.4.2: “Maricopa will not discriminate, nor tolerate discrimination, against any applicant or employee because of race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status.” And, since August 23, 2011, nor will PVCC discriminate on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

“Now we have the opportunity to start educating people about the difference between biological sex and gender,” Heuser said.