University of Connecticut’s undergraduate student government is calling for sweeping LGBTQ policy advancements across campus. Last week, the university’s student senate passed “A Statement of Position Regarding the Rights of Queer and Trans Students at UConn,” which lays out current policies they’re urging the school to review and change.
Explains The Daily Campus, UConn’s independent student-run newspaper:
This legislation aims to hold the UConn community accountable for intentional or unintentional microaggressions toward the LGBTQIA+ community.
The areas covered in the legislation are names and pronoun rights, housing rights, mental health rights, bodily autonomy rights and accountability for gender-based oppression. USG Senator Will Schad, a sixth-semester political science major, said it’s meant to be a living document, updated to include more advocacy as needed.
“My idea for this legislation is a grand list of many demands by queer folks on the campus to get them better represented and their rights protected,” Schad said. “I think it will be effective as a living document to be used next year to spearhead the advocacy on behalf of our queer students.” …
The bill passed with an overwhelming majority. Senator Kazi Iqbal, a fourth-semester music teacher education major, said the bill hopes to bring many issues facing the queer and trans community to light. Whether it be issues like minimal gender-inclusive housing, dead naming by professors and staff or a lack of gender options on campus forms, students need a forum from which to be heard.
“I strive for opening up these conversations and having that space to understand why pronouns are important or why it’s important to respect these identities,” Iqbal said. “Some people might think that censuring will push people to one side, but that’s not what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to open the space up and educate.”
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