The College Fix

‘Pronouns hold a similar weight and significance […] as names’

Did you know that the University of California system has a “Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy“?

The policy is intended “to cultivate a culture of belonging, an environment free of discrimination and harassment in which all members of our community — including transgender and nonbinary people — can thrive.”

As reported by The College Fix, all UC schools must offer at least three gender options on university-issued documents (woman, man and nonbinary) “for anyone who has an academic or professional relationship with the system.”

If a person’s “lived” name is different from their legal name, the latter must be “kept confidential except on certain financial and legal documents,” the policy notes.

UC San Francisco News recently asked Sophia Zamudio-Haas (pictured), a DrPH in the Dept. of Medicine, about the significance of the policy … and how she “imagines” or “hopes” it affects her.

“Names and pronouns matter,” Zamudio-Haas said. “Pronouns hold a similar weight and significance in English as names.”

A specialist in “increasing access to culturally tailored and population specific HIV prevention and care services for transgender women,” Zamudio-Haas noted she recently was reminded that “misgendering someone through use of the wrong pronouns” can be rectified by a simple apology and “taking responsibility.”

“Anything less,” she said, “is an act of violence and intentional harm.”

MORE: Mount Holyoke tells faculty to report ‘misgendering,’ ‘incorrect’ pronoun use

From the article:

I wish more people understood that you can’t tell a person’s gender identity or sexuality by looking at them.

There is so much rich and beautiful diversity in gender expression, identity, sexuality and sexual desire under the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender umbrella. As a group, we have so many different lived experiences and yet at the end of the day, as humans we share in the same basic needs for safety, freedom and a sense of peace.

As a Mexican American queer femme, my gender identity and sexuality are often invisible to people. I am frequently assumed straight, in the workplace and in my personal life. This can be tiring at times, to explain myself and weather the range of responses. Also, there can be privilege in being straight passing, especially in certain spaces.

It’s actually taken me years to feel confident in who I am, even growing up in San Francisco and working at UCSF for most of my career – arguably two of the most welcoming environments for queer people. Homophobia and transphobia are so pervasive, we can internalize these beliefs and behaviors in so many ways.

Zamudio-Haas’ take on pronouns and identity certainly isn’t unique in academia. Last year for example, more than 600 students at Washington and Lee University signed on to a petition denouncing conservative commentator Matt Walsh’s “violent words” against trans people.

Transgender actress Laverne Cox told George Washington University students “I’ve come to understand after all these years of experience that calling a transgender woman a man is an act of violence.”

And in 2017, a petition deemed Canada’s Wilfrid Laurier University “unsafe” for “trans, non-binary, and gender diverse students and faculty” because a teaching assistant dared to show a class a debate about gender-neutral pronouns.

MORE: Feds investigate conservative scholar’s ‘misgendering’ of DEI official

IMAGE: UCSF

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