Story at a glance
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced SUNY students will be able to select “X” when asked their gender by colleges.
- Transgender, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary students can also have their chosen names printed on diplomas and displayed on campus profiles.
- Campuses must fully implement the policy by next fall.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced Wednesday that students at all 64 campuses of the State University of New York (SUNY) can now select the letter “X” when asked to provide their gender and can have chosen names appear on college diplomas and campus profiles.
“Every person, regardless of their gender identity or the name they choose to go by, deserves to have identity documentation that reflects who they are,” Hochul said in a statement.
Campuses have until the fall of 2023 to fully implement the policy changes, according to the statement, to ensure transgender, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary student identities are reflected in the public university campus system.
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“An inclusive chosen name and pronoun policy doesn’t only help students feel safer on campus—it is also a matter of respect. This is the next concrete step toward ensuring SUNY’s current and future transgender, gender non-conforming, and non-binary students feel embraced and uplifted,” said SUNY Interim Chancellor Deborah F. Stanley.
“To those students and families who are seeing an unprecedented effort to roll back LGBTQIA+ rights and opportunities in other states, we want you to know that New York State and SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities intend only to move forward.”
A wealth of anti-LGBTQ laws has been introduced and passed in state legislators with the most high-profile being Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law otherwise known as the “don’t say gay” law which bars teachers from hosting discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade classrooms.
The SUNY policy changes come just weeks after Gov. Hochul announced that New Yorkers could select “X” as their gender on the driver’s license.
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