UNC System: Gender Inclusive Housing

UNC System: Gender Inclusive Housing

Started
September 22, 2021
Petition to
Signatures: 535Next Goal: 1,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by Dominick Riches

PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION! TRANSGENDER STUDENTS IN THE UNC SYSTEM ARE FORCED TO RESIDE WITH ONLY THOSE OF THEIR ASSIGNED SEX. HELP GET THE UNC BOARD OF GOVERNORS' ATTENTION. WE ARE WORKING TO ELIMINATE THE BILL THAT DISCLUDES STUDENTS FROM RESIDING WITH THEIR GENDER IN UNC AFFILIATED HOUSING.

In August of 2013, a bill was passed within the UNC system that enforces students to only reside with their assigned sex in campus affiliated housing:

700.8.1 Campus Housing in the The UNC Board of Governors and System Office Code and Manual: “The constituent institutions shall not assign members of the opposite sex to any institutionally owned and operated dormitory room, dormitory suite, or campus apartment unless the students are siblings, parent and child, or they are legally married,” the new system policy reads. “This policy applies to housing assignments beginning with the fall 2013 semester.”

This policy is inherently discriminatory and transphobic. As legal consenting adults, we should be allowed to live with whomever we desire regardless of sex or gender identity. The UNC system is prohibiting this for backhandedly discriminatory purposes. The transgender students enrolled in the UNC system are forced to reside with members of the sex that is listed on their current birth certificate. Transgender individuals who have had the privilege to legally change their name and gender are able to reside with those of their same gender identity. This is due to the fact that campus housing would not be aware of the fact that their biological sex is not of the same as the members of their residential situation. 

All 50 states and territories have different legislatures regarding the requirements one must take to legally change their gender. Some states such as California and Massachusetts only require a doctors note. The majority of states require a surgical procedure along with a doctors note. Some states have banned gander alternation in its entirety. 

State Laws: http://transgenderlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Birth-Cert-overview-state-by-state.pdf

In the state of North Carolina, one is able to legally change their gender only after surgery with a written doctor's note:

NC Legislation 130A-118 Amendment of Birth and Death Certificates (B)(4): "A written request from an individual is received by the State Registrar to change the sex on that individual's birth record because of sex reassignment surgery, if the request is accompanied by a notarized statement from the physician who performed the sex reassignment surgery or from a physician licensed to practice medicine who has examined the individual and can certify that the person has undergone sex reassignment surgery."

Surgery is a personal choice that should not indicate one's right to change their legal gender. Reassignment surgery is an extremely painful, risky, and expensive procedure that many transgender individuals do not personally require to feel comfortable about themselves. Given that the majority of the students enrolled in the UNC system are permanent residents of the state of North Carolina, this legislation is relayed upon a massive amount of transgender students. 

Requiring students to reside with their assigned sex is insensitive and dangerous for the mental health of the transgender population enrolled in the UNC system. Being forced to live with one's biological sex in an intimate housing environment has extreme potential to inflict dysphoria which leads to depression, anxiety, and potential suicidal tendencies. 

As the greater UNC student body, we should have the right to live with whomever we prefer regardless of gender. Eliminating 700.8.1 from the Code and Manuel would take away a series of problems within campus affiliated housing. Please join me in signing this petition to spread the word and get the attention of the UNC Board of Governors. 

 

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Signatures: 535Next Goal: 1,000
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