The Student Government Association Senate passed a bill Wednesday calling for protection of transsexual and transgender members of the UH community.
The bill, proposed by Social Work Sen. Josephine Tittsworth, At-Large Graduate Sen. Van Hua and English literature sophomore Christopher Busby calls for changes to be made to UH’s anti-discrimination policy.
"We are trying to add the phrase ‘gender identity’ into the school non-discrimination clause, thereby protecting students, staff and faculty on campus," Busby said.
Tittsworth, a UH-Clear Lake alumnus, took steps while a student to add "gender identity" into UHCL’s non-discrimination policy. That legislation is pending approval from UH President Renu Khator.
"In April 2006 we presented this legislation to UHCL President William Staples, who then passed it on to the UH System legal side, who then passed it to the UH Chancellor in Fall 2006," she said.
Hua and Busby worked to create awareness and garner support from SGA and students to help pass their legislation.
"All students of the University of Houston shall enjoy equal protection under the laws of the Student Government Association, without regard to race, nationality, creed, sex, age, academic standing, or sexual orientation," according to the Bill of Rights in the SGA Senate Constitution.
Busby said that the clause "sexual orientation," is not enough because it protects only gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
"Transgender means a person identifies themselves with the gender they are closest to, transsexual means that the person actually has the procedure done to change his or her gender," Busby said. "Having ‘gender identity’ is an effective way to recruit the best people on campus. They feel safer on campus."
Rice University includes "gender identity" in its non-discrimination policy to "send a clear message that a person’s identity will not prevent that person from participating in and flourishing in the Rice University community," according to its Web site.
The non-discrimination policy for Rice reads: "Individuals at Rice are judged on their abilities and not their status, whether that status involves race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, veteran status or gender identity," according to its Web site.
President of the UH Law Center’s Student Bar Association Michael West said such a policy is a step in the right direction.
"No student should be discriminated against because of an innate characteristic such as gender identity," West said. "We protect skin color, age, national origin and other things against which we as individuals have no control. How is gender identity any different than those? Gender identity is one of the most fundamental parts of our souls, and not every man is born in a man’s body, nor every woman in a woman’s body."
English professor Maria Gonzalez said she supports the amendment to the non-discrimination policy.
"Gender identity covers those who have transitioned from male to female or female to male," Gonzalez said. "I support these additions to the non-discrimination policy wholeheartedly."
