DailyEvergreen.com – Monique LeTourneau
A two-party system doesn?t always represent everybody. In a campus of gender-specific restrooms to single-sex residence hall floors, some students feel left out. Adeline, a WSU junior, is a male-to-female transsexual lesbian ? which means her sense of gender conflicts with her anatomical sex. Within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and ally community on campus, there are misunderstandings with regard to transgender issues, Adeline said.
?There?s a lot of ignorance about trans issues, even in the queer community on campus,? Adeline said. ?It?s kind of a fascination for them.? For instance, many people might not know how to differentiate among the alphabet soup of ?trans?-prefixed words, ranging from ?transgender? to ?transvestite? to ?transsexual.? As far as restroom situations are concerned, the Gender Identity/Expression and Sexual Orientation Resource Center?s Web site has a listing of Pullman dining establishments. Of the 27 businesses listed, five have gender-neutral restrooms.
Multiple campus documents do not consider gender options aside from ?male? and ?female.? There is no option for ?transsexual? or ?bi-gender? on an exam Scantron sheet. On the WSU undergraduate admissions application, students who don?t identify with the two-party gender system are forced to choose one or the other.