Students rallied in front of the CUB on Wednesday to show support for transgender protections. The main focus of the protest was protections for gender identity in Title IX at WSU.
“We deserve to be protected as trans people, you know, we undergo a lot of fire already. We already have protections that have been done away with so very quickly since the election,” event organizer Abba Whitaker said. “WSU has been working hard, but it still is very upsetting that we as trans people have lost our protections for Title IX.”
According to a system-wide email sent out on March 25, “WSU continues to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as required by the Washington Law Against Discrimination.”
Although WSU’s current Title IX protections include protections for gender identity and expression, Whitaker said he worries Compliance and Civil Rights may ignore offenses surrounding gender identity.
“My worry is that somebody is going to get hurt and then they’re going to be ignored and that is the exact thing that I want to try and avoid,” Whitaker said. “Nobody should be ignored, especially on the basis of gender discrimination.”
Whitaker said transgender individuals may have to start to create their own form of protective system.
“I worry that trans people and queer people will have to start creating their own protections, which is fine,” Whitaker said. “I agree that we should be forming together, creating protections and creating systems to help keep ourselves safe.”
These self-protections would look like a buddy system, establish protective spaces and more, Whitaker said.
“It would look like maybe establishing like a buddy system—like a discord server that says, ‘Hey, I have to walk home by myself from this event on this day. Can somebody meet me there and walk with me?’” Whitaker said. “Trying to establish safe zones that are both in the public eye, such as the LGBTQ+ Center, and outside of the public eye, and just trying to create a louder community so that way they see us and they know that we are not backing down from this.”
Whitaker said he will continue to protest in support of transgender rights at WSU until he believes WSU listens.
“If WSU continues to fall into the anti-trans rhetoric, then I would be out here every single day of my life being like, ‘This is not okay,’ trying to get in as much visibility as possible,” Whitaker said.
