The College Fix

No punishment for students because they also are LGBTQ

A “non-binary” University of Connecticut student found “homophobic language” on a dorm room door – but the culprits were other LGBTQ students.

University of Connecticut student Mads Carey reported the vandalism of her dorm room whiteboard to the school but it told her (the campus newspaper uses “they” pronouns but Carey’s quotes indicates she is a woman), that “it could not be classified as a bias incident despite the use of homophobic slurs,” according to The Daily Campus. This is because “those responsible were a part of the LGBTQ+ community.”

This was part of the harassment Carey faced, according to the student newspaper article about broader complaints surrounding “gender-inclusive housing.”

“I was assigned to an all-girls floor, so that in itself already presents a problem for me because I had signed up for the gender-inclusive learning community and there’s limited spaces,” Carey told the student newspaper. “That’s already a problem if you’re putting a non-binary person in an all-girls building, like they say that they care about transgender students but then they’re like, ‘we have limited spaces and GI and traditional dorming is assigned by biological sex.’ So that’s already an issue as a non-binary person.”

“Every day was a struggle, every time I used the bathroom it said women and that is just not me, and I felt like I didn’t belong there,” she said.

“My neighbors and floormates did not respect my gender identity. I had a whiteboard on my door for me and my roommate to use, like little magnets so you can tell people where you are,” Carey told the student newspaper. “Some people would write on it and vandalize it. At first it was just kind of funny, but then it was getting more specific into homophobic language.”

University officials confirmed to the student newspaper that they prefer to use education instead of punishment for bias incidents.

But Carey has bigger goals – make all housing and ever location on campus “gender inclusive.”

“I believe that the entire campus should be gender inclusive. It shouldn’t just be limited to one or two floors of one residence hall,” she said. “That really just doesn’t feel fair. Like as a non-binary student at the beginning of the year, there weren’t enough spaces for me to be a part of the community to live comfortably.”

“And that really doesn’t sit right with me. I think no matter where you are on campus, you should have the right to feel comfortable with where you’re living,” Carey said.

MORE: No video evidence or victim report for UMaine LGBT hate crime

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