RIT students protest for access to transgender health care services on campus

Rochester Institute of Technology students Monday protested over insufficient health care resources for transgender students, particularly access to hormone replacement therapy on campus.

Transgender RIT students did receive hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at the on-campus student health center until last spring, when Dr. Annamaria Kontor, who monitored it, was abruptly fired for doing so. The school said she had exceeded her authority as a primary care physician; Kontor said providing primary care was exactly what she was doing.

Kontor filed a complaint with the state Division of Human Rights, which ruled in December that the university likely had engaged in discrimination in firing her.

The university medical center is now conducting a comprehensive review of what services it offers for transgender and other students and whether it should add any, including HRT; university spokeswoman Ellen Rosen said there's no timetable for when that will be completed.

In the meantime, the handful of students on campus seeking HRT must go either to Trillium Health or the University of Rochester Medical Center, both of which have long waiting lists and can be difficult to reach for students without vehicles.

One such student, Kenji Vann, said he relies on his parents or classmates to drive him to Strong for his regular appointments.

Having it available on campus, he said, "would be so much more convenient for scheduling."

Natasha Amadasun, another student at the protest, identifies as non-binary and transgender but does not receive HRT. She works at the Q Center, a space for LGBTQ students on campus, and said students often share their struggles with HRT.

"A lot of students come into the Q Center with questions (about access) and we can't really help them because we don't have much information," they said. "HRT is not a luxury that people just want — they need this. It's a medication."

The protest, organized by the student organization OUTspoken, also complained about the policy on gender-neutral bathrooms on campus and the need to make information for LGBTQ students more visible and easily accessible.

"The university at the beginning was really receptive to meetings and seeing what's going on," OUTspoken President Taryn Brennan said. "But sometimes things stall. ... Students are tired of waiting and feeling kind of invisible, especially on a campus with such a large queer presence."

Apart from the current controversy over Kontor's firing and the provision of HRT, the university has been considered progressive on LGBTQ issues, including offering gender-inclusive housing.

Rosen said in a statement: "RIT is a welcoming and inclusive community and we take the health and well-being of all our students very seriously. We work daily to provide excellent care and services to our students, and they can expect the Student Health Center staff to be sensitive and responsive to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and asexual students’ medical issues. We want (those students) to know that we see and hear them and are open to hearing their thoughts, feelings and perspectives."

JMURPHY7@Gannett.com

UR students seek to preserve gender-specific organizations

The University of Rochester student government will vote soon on an amendment to its constitution so that Greek organizations, club sports and other student organizations can continue to separate by gender.

The Student Assembly's judicial body ruled last year that such groups could not use gendered language in their advertising or otherwise discriminate on gender. It raised the question of whether such organizations could survive.

A task force on the question was created and issued its report last month. It recommended issuing "gender exclusivity waivers" that gender-specific groups would have to file each year. Those waiver applications would need to include the rationale for segregating by gender and proof that the groups are educating their members about LGBTQ issues in general.

The UR Pride Network had supported the previous decision and said in a statement that the new amendment is "clearly transphobic."

The amendment still must be ratified by the full student body. The story was first reported by UR's Campus Times.