After being granted a religious exemption that allows the university to not house transgender students based on their gender identity, the school has updated its policy as it relates to this issue. As Erin noted the other day, the exemption itself is a little suspect, and the new policy may be new to GFU, but it is hardly an update.
The new policy states that transgender students can be housed based on their gender identity if they have had sex reassignment surgery, specifically genital surgery. This is a highly restrictive policy, one that we have seen at the most competitive levels of sport (i.e., the Olympics and other international sport organizations) but one that has received considerable critique and certainly has no rationale when applied to students. The World Health Organization has expressed its disdain for policies that require surgery in order for transgender people to receive rights. Surgery is one, expensive and two, not always the desired path for many. Additionally, the health insurance GFU offers its students does not cover medical expenses related to gender transition including hormones and surgery.
