Loyola, Speak Up: Transgender Students Deserve Explicit Representation in DEI Efforts

Content warning: Transphobia

For the first time in my three years as a Rambler, I feel I do not fully belong in the Loyola community. 

Honestly, I feel like I don’t belong anywhere. 

This feeling isn’t due to any one person, nor is it caused by Loyola or Loyola’s atmosphere. It’s come about from the current transphobia plaguing national rhetoric and politics. 

To say my life after Inauguration Day has been chaotic would be the understatement of the millennium. Since Jan. 20, the Trump administration has issued five executive orders obliterating transgender individuals’ right to public life. 

From sports to military service, identification and healthcare, these orders have dramatically affected the lives of every single transgender American.

In addition to the Trump administration’s actions, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace notoriously shouted the transphobic slur “tranny” in the House of Representatives Feb. 5. To see a person in a respected position shout a term that’s been used to assault members of the transgender community — in the sacred halls of Congress — has decimated hope for transgender inclusivity in this country. 

The election of the first openly transgender member of congress, Representative Sarah McBride, should’ve been a celebration for the transgender community. However, McBride’s win has been overshadowed by Mace’s bathroom meltdowns and the blatant misgendering of McBride on the House floor by Illinois Rep. Mary Miller. 

As someone involved in civic and political circles, Mace’s tirade and Trump’s executive orders are symbols of the alienation transgender Americans are feeling. After years of progress for  LGBTQ+ people, the progress transgender people enjoyed has flipped. We’re being told we don’t belong in education, athletics or politics. We’re being told we’ll never belong anywhere. 

Loyola’s community is an accepting place, and the continuation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts demonstrates the university won’t bow down to political pressure. To reaffirm its commitment, the university sent a letter to all students Jan. 20, detailing continued institutional support for undocumented students.  

Despite these supportive signals, why has university administration left transgender students out of these efforts?

Loyola has policies in place to protect transgender students. How do transgender students know these policies won’t get axed? What commitment does the transgender community have that policies encouraging belonging at Loyola will still be there tomorrow?

The Department of Education has already begun their transgender rights rollback. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has officially banned transgender women from participating in women’s sports. Although the Department of Education is taxpayer-funded, the NCAA is a private entity — and it quickly folded to political pressure. 

Even more concerning, Lurie Children’s hospital in Streeterville, another private institution, complied with a Jan. 28 executive order restricting gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Despite the Trump order being blocked by a judge, Lurie decided it won’t resume providing care, which sparked a massive protest Feb. 15.

DEI includes transgender individuals, so as private institutions such as Lurie and the NCAA axe their inclusive policies, transgender students need to know they’ll always have a place in the Loyola community. 

To ensure the survival of the transgender community on this campus, it’s essential institutional DEI efforts intentionally listen to and uplift transgender students and staff. Right now, there needs to be less focus on business-as-usual and more on disseminating resources to protect the transgender population. 

There are many frightening unknowns about what the next four years will look like for the transgender community. No one knows exactly what’s on the horizon, and no one knows the extent to which Trump’s policies will change normal life for transgender individuals.

Institutional DEI is important because it allows people with marginalized identities to have a standard they can rely on. The silence of university administration on how transgender people fit into current DEI efforts, transgender students, staff and faculty are left to wonder if we’ll be included in any sense of institutional normality. 

Without intentional inclusion in DEI efforts, transgender people are left wondering if our basic needs will be protected. Will we still be allowed to utilize the dorms and facilities we feel safest in? Will we still be allowed to participate in single-gender clubs and sports?

Will we still belong? 

I certainly don’t believe any university administrator wants a student, let alone a group of students, to feel they do not belong. Choosing silence, however, is choosing the side of the oppressor — and actively choosing not to explicitly express support for transgender Ramblers sends a silent message we do not belong. 

Loyola, your silence is deafening.