Welcome to the Transgender Commission website! The Transgender Commission is a coalition of people from across the University and greater community working to create change and equity for people of all gender identities and expressions. Everyone is welcome! We need your voice! Join a workgroup and get involved!

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Events, Meetings & Announcements

For more information or to get involved, please contact Ross Neely or Remy Corso, Transgender Commission Co-Coordinators, at TransCom@umn.edu or 612-626-3064.

Updated 02/07/12

February Meeting + Gender Dialogue
Thurs, Feb 9, 3:30-5:30 PM
Appleby Hall 219

Please join our collective of dedicated trans* and gender nonconforming folks and allies for our first full Trans Commission meeting of 2012 -- everyone is welcome! At this gathering we will collectively review documents such as our Grounding Assumptions, Mission and Vision as well as delve deeper into our theme of health and wellness work for 2011-12 across our four focus areas: Health Care, Restroom Access, Policies & Forms, and Education & Training. We will also engage in an interactive gender dialogue entitled "Sexual Orientation and Sexuality Beyond Gender" co-facilitated by Ian Schroeder and Devyn Coveyou! For more information, please contact TransCom@umn.edu.

Trans* and Gender Nonconforming Support Group
Meets Mondays at 4:30 PM

Still open! This group is a safer space for students who are transgender, genderqueer, questioning their gender, transgressing gender expectations, or who identify in some way as gender non-conforming to explore their feelings, thoughts, and experiences around gender identity and expression and receive collective support from other students. If interested, contact us at glbtapo@umn.edu.

March Meeting + Gender Dialogue
Thurs, March 22, 12:00-2:00 PM
St Paul Student Center 202

April Meeting + Gender Dialogue
Mon, April 16, 3:00-5:00 PM
Ford Hall 151

Gender Freedom Week Events: April 16-20, 2012

Join us for this week of celebrating and liberating our many genders! More information coming soon, to get involved contact TransCom@umn.edu.

Join the Trans Advocacy Team!

The Transgender Commission is launching a new Trans Advocacy Team, to be comprised of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and/or community members who volunteer to be available to respond to gender-related issues/instances as advocates to trans folks on the University of Minnesota campus. The Team will educate itself around advocacy principles and strategies in order to provide support, training, referrals, intervention, and/or resources -- we want to proactively create safer, affirming spaces on this campus for people of all genders. Everyone is welcome to join the Team; no previous advocacy training necessary. For more info, please contact TransCom@umn.edu.

Resource: U of MN Gender-Neutral/Unisex Restroom Map

Click here to view our evolving Google Map of gender-neutral restrooms in University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus buildings. Thank you to the Restroom Access Workgroup!

 

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Past Events & Announcements

5th Annual Trans Commission Celebration!
Wed, Feb 23, 2011, 6:00-8:30 PM

Thank you to the 115+ people who attended our 5th annual Trans Commission Celebration and made it such a wonderful educational, entertaining, artful and community-building event!

Gender Freedom Week 2011
Mon, April 25 - Fri, April 29

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Gender Freedom Week and helped make our events a tremendous success!

Gender Freedom Campaign Tabling
Mon, April 25, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Coffman Union Ground Floor (across from Einstein Bros)

Stop by our table during lunch to get information, make art, and celebrate with us as we kick off Gender Freedom Week!

Transgender Commission April Meeting + Gender Dialogue
Mon, April 25, 3:00-5:00 PM
Appleby Hall 41

Join us for the Trans Commission monthly meeting, where will discuss the progress of our four focus areas for 2010-12 (health care, education, policies & forms, restroom access), update each other on the gender liberation projects we started earlier this semester, engage in a thought-provoking gender dialogue, and share food and community!

Gender Freedom Flash Mob
Wed, April 27, 12:00 Noon
Coffman Union Ground Floor
(Marketplace seating area)

Join the Gender Freedom Collective for a "spontaneous" song and dance about gender liberation!

Put This on the {Map} Film Screening + Discussion
Wed, April 27, 4:00-6:00 PM
Scott Hall 4
Free pizza!

Put This on the {Map} features teenagers talking about changing ideas around GLBTQ identities, queer youth action, and resilience. The film pushes the conversation beyond bullying to consider systemic issues and deeper beliefs about gender, sexuality, race and class. Facilitated by Cheyenne Johnson and Tara Slaton.

Kiss with a Fist: Constructing Consent, Desire
and Gender Violence
Thurs, April 28, 12:30-2:30 PM
Coffman Union 202 (Women's Student Activist Collective space)
Free pizza!

Join us in the Women's Student Activist Collective space for a highly-interactive presentation facilitated by Rebecca Waggoner, Anti-Violence Program Director for OutFront Minnesota, where the group will use film clips and other popular culture imagery to explore the subtle and overt messages that create a climate of gender violence, as well as identify the ways that heterosexism, racism, transphobia, classism, ableism, and other interrelated oppressions serve to support a system of dehumanization and sexual assault through silence, secrecy, and the policing of bodies.

Participants will develop a greater awareness of the dynamics of power and control and the barriers often faced by people trying to access community services/support networks -- and will work together to share strategies for reclaiming desire, ending gender violence, and constructing a culture of consent.For more information, contact Rebecca Wagonner at rwaggoner@outfront.org or Ross Neely at neely010@umn.edu.

Take Back the Night 2011
Fri, April 29, 6:00-9:00 PM
Minneapolis Community and Technical College
1501 Hennepin Ave S, Mpls

Take Back the Night is an annual march and rally to combat sexual violence. Attending means you will not only take a stand against abuse, rape, and sexual assault, but will also show your pride and commitment in/to the Twin Cities community, the atmosphere, and safety. We're taking back the streets. We're taking back the night. We're shattering silence to stop the violence. The event will include a rally complete with free dinner, entertainment, powerful speakers, candlelight vigil, and socializing. We will be marching in protest of sexual violence and standing up for our rights, as humans, to feel safe in our communities. Speakers include Remy Corso and Ross Neely from the GLBTA Programs Office and Trans Commission, along with Coya Artichoker, Susan Raffo, and Jude Foster! Heidi Barton Stink, Linda Her, and Ashley Gold will be performing! Sponsored by the GLBTA Programs Office. Check out the TBTN Facebook page, or contact twincitiestbtn@gmail.com for more information.

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Thank You to everyone who supported Gender Freedom Day!

Thank you to everyone who attended or supported our first-ever Gender Freedom Day! The Transgender Commission declared Wednesday, April 14, 2010 to be University of Minnesota Gender Freedom Day, in the hopes it would be a day where everyone could openly consider & celebrate the ways in which we all benefit from expanding the possibilities of how we can express our femininity, our masculinity, and our ways of being and being gendered that transcend those concepts. (We should do this all year, but we chose April 14 as a day of intentional visibility.)

We organized/sponsored three events on April 14 (see below), and encouraged people/ offices/ organizations/ depts across the University to look at their work through a gender justice lens. Download a simple Gender Freedom Idea Kit here. One important question to ask yourself and your class/dept/organization on Gender Freedom Day might be:

"What would it be like if you felt completely free to express yourself, your body and your gender without any consequences, restraints or limits? How would the world change along with this freedom?"

Film + Discussion: Against A Trans Narrative
11:30 AM - 1:30 PM, Appleby Hall 103
FREE PIZZA!

Trans filmmaker Jules Rosskam's against a trans narrative is a provocative and personal experimental documentary investigating dominant constructions of trans-masculine identity, gender, and the nature of community. The film employs a gender-busting combination of intimate diary footage, stylized dramatic scenes, spoken word performance, faux audition tapes, and roundtable interview footage to explore & initiate a dialogue between feminists, queers, and transfolk about the way we construct personal and historical narratives. Careful attention is paid to the ways generation, race, class, and culture impact our understandings of gender. Trans Commission member Tara facilitated a learning circle-style discussion following the film.

Sing & Dance: Flash Mob
3:00 PM, East Bank Mall Area, In front of Walter Library

We joined the Gender Freedom Collective for a spontaneous song & dance in the middle of the Mall Area. It only took a few minutes, but the sense of fabulousness & freedom lasted all day!

Go here for all the glittery details:
www.gfctc.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=107023932666496

Genderheads: Envisioning Gender Freedom
4:00-6:00 PM
Coffman Union 324
FREE FOOD!

Trans Commission member Alex facilitatde a Genderheads discussion about "envisioning gender freedom." How do you feel about gender freedom and what does it mean to you? Is it something you desire or that you feel ambivalent about? How do your experiences and identities affect your vision of gender freedom? Does the idea of gender freedom have an impact on our communities? Does this differ across communities?

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News: Story about Transgender Commission in MN Daily

An article about the Transgender Commission and our restroom access work was printed in the Oct 15, 2009 edition of the Minnesota Daily, along with a map of gender-neutral restrooms on the Minneapolis campus. Read it here. The TC Daily Planet also published the story here.

News: U of MN Equal Opportunity Statement Amended to Include Gender Identity and Gender Expression!

After three years of discussions & organizing by the Transgender Commission (and countless years of activism and demand before that), the Vice President and Vice Provost for Equity & Diversity (who the Trans Commission reports to) took our proposal to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents to add "gender identity and "gender expression" explicitly to the U of MN Equal Opportunity Statement. This July 2009, the proposal passed, along with other changes, and you can view the new, updated, gender-equitable language on the Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action website.

News: Story about Trans Commission on The Colu.mn Website

Shortly after we broke the Equal Opportunity policy change news, three members of the Transgender Commission did an interview with The Colu.mn, a new Minnesota LGBT news & culture website, and the article spent weeks as a feature story on their homepage. Read it here.

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News: Transgender Commission Wins 2008 Breaking the Silence Award!

The Transgender Commission has been chosen as the recipient of the 2008 Breaking the Silence Award, "for its outstanding service to the U of M and greater GLBTA community, particularly around
helping the U become a safer, better place for people of all genders." The Transgender Commission was honored at the Lavender Celebration and Awards Ceremony on May 1, 2008. Congratulations and thank you to all the incredible people -- students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members -- who have contributed to our work over the past two years!

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Resource: Trans Resources Page

We have updated our Resources page listing of local and national transgender and gender freedom websites. (Updated 09/17/11)

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Report and Recommendations for Institutional Change

Download a copy of the 2007 Transgender Commission Report,
submitted to the University of Minnesota Vice President and Vice Provost
for Equity and Diversity. The Report provides an overview of the first year
of Commission work, history and partnerships, and presents our initial recommendations for institutional change.

Download the 2008 Transgender Commission Report (new)

Download the 2009 Transgender Commission Report (new)