More than 50 students gathered in LAPC Monday night for a meeting on gender identity, hosted by the Counseling Center and Student Government Association.
The educational session came one week after the first event on sexual orientation. Both events were organized to prepare students for an upcoming summit on sexual minorities.
“When we were conceptualizing these seminars, talking with SGA, I felt like sexual orientation and gender identity get merged together but really are two distinct topics,” said Bill Fiala, director of the University Counseling Center. “I wanted to be able to blur those lines a little less.”
Fiala began the night answering anonymous questions about identity and sexual orientation, which were placed in a box by students during last week’s session.
One student asked why administrators were not present in the last session. Fiala told the audience that he specifically asked them not to come.
“Our administration is doing their own session,” Fiala said. “I want us to be able to have a free conversation without [Student Life administration] making students feel like they cannot express themselves.”
Fiala began his PowerPoint presentation explaining the importance of a gender identity discussion at Azusa Pacific. He also talked about what it means to be transgender living both in the school community and outside the “APU bubble.”
He then used Scripture as a transition into the topic of identity and the Bible. According to the UCC leader, the Bible does not reference the word transgender. Instead, it mentions homosexuality. For example, he mentioned Genesis 1-3, Deuteronomy 22:5 and Galatians 3:27-28.
Later, he discussed the traditional binary model and alternative model of gender identity. He said the binary model divides gender into two distinct, vertical lines: Males are masculine men attracted to women, while females are feminine women attracted to men. The alternative model, he explained, is like a horizontal line that ranges from male to female. Sex and gender can fall anywhere in this range.
In the middle of his presentation he had students take a quiz, similar to last session. This time the vocabulary dealt with transgender, not LGBTQIA, terminology such as “crossdresser,” “drag queens” and “intersex.”
One student with prior knowledge of transgender terms said he still found the quiz helpful.
“It was nice to get refreshed on the terminology and to see the APU community coming together to learn about people that are different,” said senior sociology major Ryan McCune.
Fiala also informed the students on the statistics regarding transgender identity and issues in the world. According to The National Gay and Lesbian task force and National Center for Transgender equality:
–90 percent of transgender people reported experiencing harassment on the job
–19 percent reported being homeless due to their identity
–41 percent reported attempted suicide
–57 percent weren’t able to maintain family bonds
Sophomore biblical studies major Susan Van Bemden said she found several of the numbers surprising.
“My favorite part of the event is when Fiala went over the statistics on the number of transgender people that reported being homeless,” she said.
Fiala ended the session with tips for students regarding transgender identity. He advised students to ask respectful questions, choose language carefully and honor one’s choice of name/gender/pronoun.
“I want students to take away basic knowledge. My hope is that as a community, APU can have a base of knowledge we can all operate from,” Fiala said. “If we have common ground, we can have discussion and dialogue, but if we don’t have it, we are coming from different directions.”
The student summit will take place Wednesday, March 19 at 5 p.m. in the Cougar Dome.
CORRECTION: Fiala did not want Student Life administration there to make students feel like they cannot express themselves. This post previously indicated he did not want faculty members there.