Student Council unanimously passed a bill yesterday endorsing the protection of the University's transgender community and participation in a day of silence to combat transphobia. The day of silence will take place April 7 and culminate in a gathering at 7 p.m. in Clark Hall, Room 107.
College Rep. Marco Segura said he sponsored the bill after being approached by members of the transgender community who feared for their safety, particularly after the February death of a transgender Baltimore resident who was asphyxiated. Segura said he believes the death was the result of a hate crime.
Several transgender individuals attended the meeting and sat in support of the bill.
"A lot of the students ... don't feel safe, and these are bright students," Segura said. "They're afraid [because] the University of Virginia does not have transgender protection in its constitution."
The new bill cites statistics in calling for the University's support for the community. A reported 33.2 percent of transgender youth attempted suicide in 2006, and 90 percent of transgender youth have reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression, according to the bill.
Council also worries the University could lose prospective students because of this absence in the constitution. The University currently ranks as the top secular university in the country that lacks transgender and gender identity protection in its constitution.
"If [transgender students] are in-state students, they would most likely go to Mary Washington," said Seth Kaye, president of Queer and Allied Activism. "U.Va.'s pretty crappy on most every issue [transgender students] would care about."
Kaye also said he hopes the University one day will allow for living arrangements in which neither sex nor gender play a role in on-Grounds housing assignments.
-compiled by Krista Pedersen
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