Barnard College now seems to be a target for the latest campus diversity craze: Transvestite Acceptance!

We recently noted that a renown gay activist offended students at University of Chicago by using the term, “Tranny.”

Now, Barnard and Columbia students from the boards of GendeRevolution and Proud Colors demand that the famed women’s college stop demanding that their applicants actually be women — they only have to dress like them!

As of now, Barnard only admits applicants who indicate that they are female on their applications. But at Barnard, there are not only students who identify as (cis) women but also those along a whole spectrum of trans identities, such as trans male, genderqueer, genderfluid, and more.

Barnard is already a school whose population is not solely made up of women, and yet it continues to exclude trans women. Barnard has no written policy regarding its admission of trans women, which means the only way for a trans woman to be able to apply is for them to have “all their paperwork in order” (i.e., to have all application materials state that the applicant is female)—which is an unreasonable burden for applicants.

Changing legal gender documentation is an expensive process everywhere, requires surgery in most states, and is not allowed in other states. Asking a student applying to college to navigate all this presupposes a level of parental support and environmental safety that often just isn’t there. Additionally, this excludes nonbinary DMAB (designated male at birth) trans people, those who do not wish to transition medically, and those who cannot medically transition for medical reasons.

…Binary structures of gender that establish standards of femininity and masculinity are constantly reinforced in everyday language, reproducing transphobic attitudes and behaviors. Seemingly meaningless practices such as referring to Barnard students as “Barnard women” or “girls” erases nonbinary and trans identities. And although this is a reflection of societal attitudes founded in ciscentric thought, Barnard’s lack of attention to these issues works to further marginalize already-oppressed gender identities.

To stand by its commitments to diversity and to student well-being, Barnard must be more active in combating transphobia in its policies, in its classrooms, and on campus as a whole.

…The inclusion of trans women at Barnard will certainly not solve all problems of transphobia on either side of the street, but it is an important and necessary step in the right direction.