Fall 2009

The Gender & Sexuality Center is working in collaboration with the Chancellor's Committee on the Status of LGBT Issues and UIC Pride to more fully and comphrensively do transgender education, outreach, research, and support at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This has been a long time coming, and we thank those gender advocates who have been doing this work before us.

In this context, we use the term transgender as an umbrella term to encompass, but not limited to, those who are transsexual, cross-dressers, intersex, gender queer, gender non-conforming, gender variant, FTM, and MTF.

To this end, these are the programs and projects we are collectively working on:

• Increase the number of gender neutral, single stall restrooms on both campuses;
• Provide education and context around these restrooms;
• Hold a Restroom Signage contest to explore other ways of marketing these restrooms;
• Investigate UIC's health care system for transgender health services
• Investigate a "perferred name" field
• Organize an on-campus program for Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20
• Explore a LGBTQA on-campus housing floor
• Investigate the multitude of UIC forms for transgender-friendliness

Additionally, the Gender & Sexuality Center has used resources to hire four student workers who are specifically working around transgender education, outreach, and support.

The CCSLGBTI has organized a Transgender Sub-comittee to work on transgender support.

If you would like to help in these efforts, you can contact either Liz Thomson, Interim Director, Gender & Sexuality Center, or Francesca Gaiba
Co-Chairperson, CCSLGBTI and Transgender Sub-Committee Chair.