When Elliott DeLine transferred to Syracuse University this year, the computer system listed him as two people. One, Elliott L. DeLine, was female. The other, Elliott R. DeLine, was male. 

‘When I first came in, my transfer papers said I was female,’ said DeLine, a junior English and textual studies major. ‘I don’t know how they ever figured that out. I don’t think I’m still two people, I hope.’ 

DeLine is transgender and transitioned from female to male two years ago, DeLine said. SU has generally been accepting and accommodating of him as transgender, but small instances, such as the glitch in the computer system, show SU still has work to do to be fully transgender-friendly. 

SU’s LGBT Resource Center is recognizing the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors those who have died because of violence against transgender individuals. The weeklong recognition at SU culminates Thursday when people are encouraged to wear memorial ribbons and T-shirts. 

The national Transgender Day of Remembrance is technically Saturday, and SU usually marks the day with a vigil at Hendricks Chapel. But remembering past violence is only one piece of the day, so the LGBT Resource Center decided to eliminate the vigil this year, said Lauren Hannahs, a graduate assistant at the LGBT Resource Center who planned the campaign. 

Instead, the LGBT Resource Center chose to hold its weeklong recognition with awareness events that included a poster campaign and tabling in Schine Student Center.

Posters depicting the number of transgender people who have died, along with faces and back stories, were hung up around campus Monday, Hannahs said. 

People at the tables at Schine on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday passed out awareness ribbons, which students are encouraged to wear Thursday, along with the ‘You Are Not Alone’ shirts that were distributed in October for National Coming Out Month. 

‘There’s a lot of merit and worth in a vigil, but the same 50 people tend to show up,’ Hannahs said. ‘It’s great for support and community, but what we’re doing this year opens it up more broadly.’ 

This year’s awareness campaign also calls attention to the many other issues transgender individuals face, Hannahs said. The public often focuses on ending the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy or legalizing gay marriage as the main issues the LGBT community faces. But transgender individuals face issues such as pronoun usage, what computer systems and paperwork recognize them as or what bathroom to use, she said. 

‘‘T’ is different from ‘LGBT,” Hannahs said. 

DeLine, the transgender student, said he thinks having a vigil as part of the Transgender Day of Remembrance is important. But he said he understands that people may not want to focus on negativity and instead raise awareness.  

‘It’s important to have both,’ he said. 

Margaret Himley, the co-director of the LGBT studies minor, said she has long thought the Transgender Day of Remembrance should be marked by more than just mourning. She is pleased with the effort to bring awareness to more of the campus, she said. 

‘If there’s just mourning, it’s possible for people who are not transgender to feel pity and distance,’ Himley said. ‘It’s not easy to be transgender, but it is not all tragic.’ 

More than half of transgender and gender non-conforming people who were bullied, harassed or assaulted in school because of their gender identity have attempted suicide, according to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey released in October. 

Though SU does not have any issues as serious as murder or suicide because of bullying based on gender identity, there is still work needed to be done to improve the campus climate toward transgender individuals, Himley said. 

Since Himley began working at SU in 1983, the campus has made strides in accepting transgender students, she said. SU added gender identity to its anti-discrimination policy in 2006 and created the LGBT studies minor in 2005. The campus also began a pilot program for gender-neutral housing this year, and an openly transgender man, D. Chase James Catalano, now runs the LGBT Resource Center. 

But Himley hears students talk about facing discrimination, such as being called ‘you freak,’ when walking down Euclid Avenue or sees slurs written on residence hall room white boards, she said.

‘There’s these micro-moments that are hard for institutions to change with a policy,’ Himley said.

In his experiences, DeLine said, SU has generally been more transgender-friendly than other places he’s been. He grew up around Syracuse, where he said finding resources like doctors and therapists as a transgender individual required an underground network of communication.

He transferred to SU from Purchase College, State University of New York. At Purchase, he said he feels transgender support was mostly left up to the students. SU provides much more staff guidance than Purchase, and the LGBT Resource Center provides a much more centralized resource than the city and suburbs of Syracuse, he said. 

Though DeLine mainly chose SU because it is close to his home, he said SU’s reputation as an LGBT-friendly campus influenced his decision. When he is on campus, he faces little to no hostility, he said, but most people do not know he is transgender because he passes well as a male.  

‘I have heard of people having not necessarily tense interactions but feeling tense. And I know that I definitely feel tense,’ he said. ‘What can be done about that by the school, I’m not sure.’ 

When DeLine tells people at SU he is transgender, they react supportively, he said. He has only told two non-transgender students he is transgender. 

Despite support from students and faculty, DeLine said he sees areas in which SU could improve its accommodations for transgender students, specifically the gendered bathrooms. He faces no difficulty going to the men’s room because he has transitioned but knows people who find it difficult going to the bathroom. 

SU is committed to installing at least one gender-neutral restroom in each new building under the anti-discrimination policy, according an article in The Daily Orange on Feb. 24, 2009. But DeLine knows people who still feel frustrated because they cannot find a bathroom to go to, an experience with which he empathizes, he said. 

‘Before I transitioned and was on hormones, I often felt some of my worst encounters just going into the women’s room just as a masculine appearing female. People would be like, ‘Get out, you’re a boy,” he said.

Above all, DeLine said he thinks the main issue that needs to be addressed is raising awareness of the issues transgender students face and the resources available to help them. 

‘There’s all these resources. It’s just letting people know about them that’s the big issue,’ he said. ‘Everybody is doing a really good job, and everybody could be doing a lot better.’ 

rhkheel@syr.edu

Published on November 17, 2010 at 12:00 pm