The University of New Mexico’s LGBTQ+ Resource Center hosted “A lunchtime conversation on Transgender rights” in collaboration with Equality New Mexico this past monday. The event shed light on transgender rights in the current political climate, ways to combat transphobia and resources at UNM and the surrounding community.
According to the UNM LGBTQ Resource Center website, the center works to create a welcoming health and learning environment on UNM campus for all students. Equality New Mexico is a statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.
Keynote speakers Adrian Carver, the executive director of Equality New Mexico and Janice Devereaux, LGBTQ Resource Center program assistant discussed the recent federal memo to redefine gender as purely biological.
A recent New York Times article reported that the Trump administration is considering restricting the legal definition of gender to one’s biological sex. Both Carver and Devereaux said this would reduce protections for transgender individuals reserved under federal and civil rights laws.
According to a study done by University of California Los Angeles School of Law, 1.4 million individuals living in the U.S. identify as transgender. Carver said the luncheon was an opportunity to educate individuals on what is happening at the federal level.
“We had this lunch to make sure that students and the UNM community have the information that they need to feel safe on campus,” Carver said. “The information to know what they can do about it on the state and federal level.”
Carver said this is not the first time that transgender rights have been under fire and attack. Devereaux added that it can be easy to give up but it is important not to — even in the face of extreme adversity. People are still finding a community to belong to, regardless of what is happening politically, Devereaux said.
“I think it is helpful to remember things like that the state of New Mexico was one of the first states to pass protections for trans people,” Devereux said. “There is work being done by us that doesn’t make the news.”
The state has passed a law for marriage equality, banned conversion therapy and a bullying prevention policy have all been passed, Carver said. He added that one of the pieces of legislation that is currently being revamped is a rewrite of the bullying prevention law. Currently it is not inclusive of gender identity and gender expression.
“New Mexico is a gold star queer state in that we have some of the major protections that people are fighting for all across the country,” Carver said.
In order to change the gender assigned on a person’s given birth certificate, the individual must first undergo a gender confirmation surgery. However, in New Mexico there are no providers that can provide gender confirmation surgeries, Carver said.
“As trans people, we do not need to have a surgery to be who we say we are,” Devereux said.
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Bill 120, which was designed to make it easier for transgender people to change their legal sex on their birth certificates, was vetoed by Gov. Susana Martinez in February. Carver said Michelle Lujan Grisham, Democratic candidate for governor, has committed to signing the bill.
Devereux encouraged attendees to vote in the upcoming general midterm elections. Early voting has already began and the general election is next Tuesday, Nov. 6.
UNM has a variety of resources available for students who need support or resources during this time including, the LGBTQ+ Resource Center, the Office of Equal Opportunity and the Women’s Resource Center.
Megan Holmen is the assistant news editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com, culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @megan_holmen.
