Transgendered Student Denied Equal Treatment
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By Emily Thomas, HuffingtonPost.com
A transgender college sophomore who identifies as male has been barred from living in all-male dorms, and now his lawyer has lodged a federal complaint against the university.
George Fox University, a Christian school in Newberg, Ore., says officials denied the student’s December request to live with his male friends because of the school’s “theological commitments.” The university says it’s in the process of implementing a policy that only permits housing arrangements based on birth sex, according to a letter obtained by PQ Monthly, a Portland-based LGBT magazine.
At the time, the university gave the student, who is identified as Jayce, two alternative living options for the 2014-2015 school year, according to the outlet. The first option was to live off campus with his male roommates, as long as he notified their parents about the arrangement and changed his name and sex on his driver’s license and social security card. The other option was to live alone.
“While I appreciate university administrators meeting with me regarding my housing requests, their ultimate decision makes me feel rejected, misunderstood, and punished for something I cannot change,” Jayce told PQ Monthly. ( . . .)
“[T]hey were unwilling to listen to him,” Southwick told the outlet. “And so he had to take the next step to protect himself.”
In a Change.org petition letter that asks the university to reverse its decision. (. . .)
The letter has since garnered nearly 4,000 signatures. ( . . .)
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