The issue of transgendered people is still sometimes as taboo in a community as intellectually progressive as Queen’s as it is in most parts of the globe. In California, two men were convicted this week of second-degree murder for killing a transgendered teen in October 2002. Michael Magidson and Jose Merel, who had been intimately involved with Eddie “Gwen” Araujo, strangled and tortured the teen after they discovered Araujo’s sexual orientation.
According to a recent Maclean’s article, transgender is “an umbrella term that describes people who are born of one biological sex but feel they belong to the other, or both, and don’t necessarily want sex reassignment surgery.” While progress has been made on campus about transgender issues, only last year was a transgendered washroom installed on the lower floor of the JDUC.
Although having transgender washrooms is a step in the right direction, more steps still need to be taken in terms of transgender awareness and education on campus. In light of the conviction of the teen’s killers, we as students must reassess our own ideas on gender and make efforts to understand what “transgenderism” means.
For most, university is a time of self-discovery and some students at Queen’s may be at the point of questioning their gender. Something like choosing which washroom to use, as simple as it may seem, is in fact no simple decision for transgender individuals and they should not be forced to make this decision. Facilities on campus such as the future Queen’s Centre should include transgender washrooms that are as accessible as gendered washrooms.
In the same Maclean’s article, it was reported that “The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV classifies transgenderism and transsexualism as disorders (in much the same way homosexuality was considered a mental illness before it was de-listed in 1973) … .” The fact that even healthcare professionals are having difficulty understanding transgendered people shows how much further we as a society have to go.
As students at Queen’s, and future citizens and leaders for a global society, we should make every effort to not only to accept but also to understand transgendered people.
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