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Dress up and join the women’s committee
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Transvestite-students-allowed-to-cross.5865128.jp
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Sign InRegister« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryPublished Date: 28 November 2009
By Ben Spencer
CROSS-DRESSING students at The University of Sheffield are to be allowed to join the women’s committee – after the union passed a motion to treat ‘self-defining women’ as females.
The decision means membership of the women’s committee will be open to all students who consider themselves to be female – even if they are transvestite males.Only one representative voted against the proposal at a students’ union council meeting
ADVERTISEMENT.Amy Sutherland, the union women’s officer, told The Star the change had been requested by the university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Committee at the union’s ‘Trans Week’ celebrations.
“The motion was proposed after we were asked to clarify our position towards transgender students,” she said.
It is not known how many – if any – transgender or transvestite male students might want to join the women’s committee.
“Those affected will be a very small minority of transgender students who can now sit on women’s committee knowing they are formally welcome,” Amy said.
“We do have a minority of transgender students and as a union it is our responsibility to support them.
“By passing this motion the women’s committee is adhering to a national trend in the direction of transgender awareness.
“This only affects those students who were born biologically male but genuinely consider themselves to be psychologically women and live their lives on a day-to-day basis as women.”
Amy said objections were heard from a “tiny proportion” of people who felt gender change is not an issue among students.
The vote will not allow men to stand for the union women’s officer position, but Amy said in practice it was unlikely anyone would oppose a ‘self-defining woman’ from standing for the job.
However the university’s women’s minibus – a service that takes female students home safely after a night out on campus – would continue to be for women only.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Committee rep Max Baker told the university’s student paper: “In a practical sense, ‘self-defining women’ includes trans women as well as people who are born biologically female.
“The term exists to change the way people think about gender – that it is not necessarily based entirely on biological factors, and is a move away from that idea.
“We would say any person defining themselves as a woman is a self-defining woman, regardless of the biological status.
“Self-identification is something everyone does, not just trans women.
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