This recent debate that has been going on at Juniata is most definitely a gendered conflict. Specifically it deals with the bathrooms and whether they are separated by gender or by sex. From a broader perspective though it deals with the rights of transgendered students on campus. This conflict is particularly difficult because people are not sure how to deal with it. Transgendered rights is a relatively new movement and not much legal precedence has been formed for people to look to in a situation. Pennsylvania doesn't have laws to protect transgendered individuals who do not work for the state and federal law (as far as I have been informed) does not either.
This brings into play several things that we have discussed in class especially the idea of gender as a social construct. The question you have to ask then is how much power does this social construct have? If you don't agree with society can you change it? And if you decide to go against society can you have the same rights as everyone else? In my opinion yes, you most definitely can. The non-discrimination policy at Juniata eliminates bias based on "race, sex, age, religion, ancestry, color, marital status, national or ethnic origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, citizenship or veteran status" (according to the policy handbook online) but does not say anything about transgendered students. If this can be changed to include them than this conflict would not even exist. That is why I am a firm believer that the first step to making Juniata a safe place for everyone is to change the non-discrimination policy to include gender as well as sex. It is a widely perceived notion that the two are different, so why include one and not the other?
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