Kit Erinys Gabriella Apostolacus, Current EU student, Biblical Studies (Koine Greek) (’16), co-president of Refuge.

In the summer of 2014, I wrote to Eastern University’s president, Dr. Robert Duffett, livid, terrified, and aware of my lack of protections at Eastern. I was among the first few to respond directly to Duffett in the wake of his signature on a letter that requested an exemption from federal non-discrimination laws in employment. Realizing he had overlooked the reality of LGBTQIA people in his own institution and that the signature impacted more than just EU’s pool of potential hirees, Duffett started the Task Force on Human Sexuality which has hosted a series of events to harbor discussion on LGBTQIA issues.

While many great conversations have happened on campus because of or in spite of these events, the conversations largely surrounded marriage and reproduction—a gross oversimplification of the experiences of many people in the LGBTQIA communities. In my case, I felt my own experiences were being treated as something to get to “later on.”

Now, over a year later, I write again–still enraged, still scared stiff, and still dehumanized by Eastern University. Every second of my life as a trans woman is a risk at a Christian university—even one as “progressive” and “justice-oriented” as Eastern University. I’ve spoken about my experiences and hopes for Eastern in multiple formats, including University-sponsored events (e.g. Task Force events, Refuge events) and publications (e.g. The Waltonian).

I believe Eastern is an institution that, in certain moments, has stood for the oppressed and done it well. This is not one such moment. Eastern’s treatment of transgender students very much contributes to the 41% of transgender people who report having attempted suicide—10 times the national average. So I write this for myself, my transgender peers, and the ever-increasing number of transgender people who have committed suicide because Christians think we need to be fixed of our “perversions”. There is also a petition available regarding these issues here. Four things concern me about the way the University treats transgender students:

Requiring “medical documentation” of our genitalia is a form of sexual harassment and sex discrimination because it negatively affects our academics, where we’re allowed to live, where we’re allowed to be at certain times, and our overall mental health. It also requires us to risk poverty for a surgery we may or may not actually want and that health insurance may or may not help fund, We are singled out by EU policies and practices, with horrific results. Such treatment also fits the clinical model for cycles of abuse.

Before I continue, I want to define what I mean when I say “sexual harassment” by way of Eastern’s own definitions. The Sexual Discrimination and Title IX Policies (SDP) say that “all members of [Eastern University’s] community” are protected from “all forms of sexual discrimination” (SDP 1). In more detail, the Policies say that sexual harassment is constituted wherever “a pattern exists of singling out members of one sex for disproportionate attention with elements of emotional or physical pressure. Such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s employment or academic performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive residential, work, or academic environment” (SDP 7). Categorizing transgender women as “men” does exactly that.

Eastern’s singular policy in the residential supplement (RS) of the Student Handbook that defines gender as “anatomical sex” (RS 13) was made explicit last Spring, just months after I came out as a woman. Mere months after I became the first out transgender girl in the entire history of EU’s student and faculty bodies, the University made it abundantly clear that I was not going to be respected for living honestly. Not only is the conflation of “anatomical sex” and gender academically inaccurate and morally reprehensible, but it is also only ever invoked to harass transgender students, such as myself, about their genitalia.

There are very few “gender-flexible” rooms on-campus and they are very quickly occupied, so non-binary[1] students are forced to remain in the hall of their “anatomical sex” or move off campus.

In my own case, I occupy one of these “gender-flexible” rooms which is located on a female hall, but I am still held accountable to visitation rules “as a male.” But there’s a discrepancy here. The Student Handbook (nor its supplements) makes no mention of gender-flexible rooms. Moreover, individual halls aren’t demarcated by “anatomical sex.” According to the residential supplement of the Student Handbook, “floors/areas” are what are demarcated by “anatomical sex” (RS 13). In fact, when I was offered this housing option it was marketed as “not on a female hall, but on a female floor.” The entrance door to get to my room and the rest of the hall has a visitation schedule on it which says, “This is a female floor. If you are a male, please double check the time.” Men are not allowed past that door at certain times and cannot linger outside the area of my room, but are still allowed in my room. It’s quite a confusing situation, as well as dehumanizing and insidious. They put me in a space that is for “anatomical females” but expect me to follow the rules as a male because I refuse to present invasive and unnecessary documentation of my genitalia.

In order to be recognized as our gender, trans students at EU are required to provide “medical documentation” that we’ve had genital reassignment surgery. This isn’t written anywhere in any handbook, it’s simply something made up by administrators in an attempt to legislate trans bodies and appease conservative parents. Legal documentation, like a driver’s license, does not count. Cisgender students are never asked about their genitalia to confirm that “they’re being honest” by administration. Every student is taken at their word regarding their gender, unless they come out as transgender during their time at the institution, in which case, all trust is thrown out the window. We’re unwarrantingly treated as compulsive liars, sexual predators, and “security violations” (RS 20).

Imagine how quickly enrollment would drop and funds removed if the University began asking all enrolled students for medical proof of their genitalia. Eastern would arguably go bankrupt in a year. But when people like me are the only ones singled out for this unnecessary, slanderous, and invasive treatment, all of a sudden it is perfectly okay. Transgender students are singled out and harassed about their bodies by administrators who have no business asking about what is in our pants. If a student or a professor were to make such an audacious inquiry (which I can personally attest has occurred far too many times), I presume the administration would investigate seriously and treat it as a form of sexual harassment. But the veil of authority allows administrators (including the Title IX Coordinator) to ask the exact same questions without a subsequent Title IX investigation, reprimand, or a hint of remorse.

People, the EU administration especially, do not understand that being transgender is not about “desiring to be a different gender” or even “being sexually aroused by the idea of being another gender.” Both understandings are not only at odds with modern psychological research, but also at odds with the narratives trans people themselves tell. Instead imagine that, as a woman, you were so easily mistaken for a man that you were forced to pretend that you were one. That is what it is like to be a transgender woman. A woman, through and through, with the adjective “transgender” attached.

Nothing about Eastern’s recent movements says to me that I am welcome in the community. In my many exchanges with administrators, I have repeatedly been told that “the University cares” about me. But every instance of sexual harassment from the administration proves to me otherwise. In fact, the coupling of such violations of my safety and privacy with an insistence that they care for me perfectly mimics the cycles of abuse, including the theme of gaslighting. No one in the administration has ever decided to unequivocally not comply with such abusive practices.

Such actions, whether systemic or interpersonal, not only ignore the well-being of trans students, but also requires us to risk poverty in order to be treated fairly. Trans people experience poverty at 4 times the rate of poverty in the average US population. When a trans person says that being overtly categorized as a gender that they are not causes them severe anxiety, dysphoria, and puts their suicide risk at astronomical heights, we are not respected by being placed on the hall of our gender. We are forced to move off-campus often in areas that really aren’t affordable or safe for many students (especially trans women), unless in the rare case that there is a gender-flexible room available (which, in some cases, can be equally as dehumanizing).

This is quite literally a form of emotional, physical, and economic manipulation which, in Eastern’s case, is hidden under the guise of “religious freedom” and “separation of church and state.” Moreover, requiring transgender people to get genital reassignment surgery not only ignores trans experiences (some trans people do not desire such a surgery) but also ignores how expensive such surgeries are ($20,000+ which may or may not be covered by health insurance). Needless to say, Eastern does not offer any financial help in receiving such a surgery which they require in order for trans students to be fully recognized as their gender.

There are, additionally, quite a few hypocrisies that ought to be pointed out. While Eastern is committed to “helping the poor,” the above information suggests that they are also committed to creating the poor. Though Eastern categorically denies transgender people gender-appropriate housing, administrators will still use students’ preferred names and pronouns, regardless of whether or not either has been legally changed. Also, in trying to find options off-campus for me (which I’ve already considered), Bettie Ann Brigham suggested I look into a women’s-only housing apartment, but still refuses me on-campus female housing and the opportunity to amend my legal information (in violation of FERPA). Lastly, the separation of church and state rhetoric used in Duffett’s letter still seeks federal funding. A true separation of church and state would reject federal funds. This, in mind, Duffett and his fellow signees realize that their respective institutions would not survive without federal funding, and they need it in order to promote their anti-LGBTQ tirades.

“Eastern will not discriminate” Duffett says, but my experiences (as well as many others’) at EU demonstrate that the exact opposite is currently happening.

So, what I’ve learned from how I’ve been treated by Eastern University is this:

“real Christianity” holds that I am inherently a threat to women everywhere

transgender Christians are not welcome in the Church

Eastern University would rather talk about marriage and procreation (issues that are very minorly relevant to our community) than address specific injustices being done in our own community that oppressed people are repeatedly bringing up,

it is appropriate to reduce women to superficial bodily traits, and

Eastern will “see God in the oppressed” but will also gladly crucify us via debt and sexual harassment if we dare enter the community as our honest, real selves.

Henceforth, in lieu of a full-fledged federal investigation, this is a public call for Eastern University to begin treating transgender students like humans by doing the following:

Remove the definition of gender as “anatomical sex” in the residential supplement of the student handbook, Treat us with the same amount of respect you give other students; stop requiring us to show medical proof of our genitalia when no one else is ever asked to do the same, Stop sexually harassing us; it’s not at all decreasing our chances of suicide, work with us to establish a housing policy where LGBTQ students can be safe and healthy work with us to establish a fair and equitable means of changing one’s gender in University records

Repent of your obsession with our bodies—your institutionalized sexual harassment. We do not want merely “more conversation.” We actually need to be treated humanely because the way Christian institutions (and the Church in general) treat transgender people is absolutely horrendous on multiple levels. We know that the Task Force on Human Sexuality is not focused on how transgender people are oppressed at Eastern. I extend this same earnest call to Westmont College, Messiah College, Wheaton College, George Fox University, California Baptist University, Azusa Pacific University, and universities across the US—religious or not.

The Church needs to be a safe place for all people. This safety cannot be defined by those creating and perpetuating unsafe environments, but should be defined by the voices of the oppressed in our own communities. In this manner, there is a petition for Eastern to immediately change how they treat transgender students as listed above. Let us begin waking up the world, by waking up ourselves. With honest lives and broken hearts, we can wait no longer.

[1] – a subcategory of “transgender” where a person does not exclusively identify as one gender or strictly male/female. e.g. genderfluid, agender, bigender