Graduate Student Senate hashed out the transgender needs of OU’s campus at last night’s “Breaking Down Barriers” panelist session.
The five panelists, which included LGBT leaders, elaborated on the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people on OU’s campus and the challenges they face.
“With these issues, I cannot just be a psychologist, but I must also be an advocate,” said Susan Young, a licensed psychologist.
The panel discussed alternative housing options for LGBT people, such as OU’s gender-neutral housing program, which is in its pilot run this year.
OU needs to be “giving them the option, a place where they want to be comfortable, said Josh Bodnar, assistant director of Residential Housing.
Mickey Hart, director of OU’s LGBT Center, spoke on the need for and importance of transgender-oriented programming.
Sophomore Darby Fledderjohn said she appreciated the panelists’ laidback mood.
“They had a variety of viewpoints with a purely educational intent,” she said. “There was no underlying agenda.”
The LGBT group hopes to collaborate with GSS on other programs, such as working on an insurance plan that includes hormones and some sex-altering surgical procedures.
The LGBT Center is also hosting various other programs as part of TransWorld Awareness Week.
sj950610@ohiou.edu
