Passed: March 2022 (14th)

What do you want? / Why do you want it?

Since March 2021, when the university tried to implement changes to their trans equality policy against the explicit wishes of trans staff and students, trans students have felt increasingly unsafe at the University – we are calling on LUU to offer their utmost support to trans students at Leeds and LUU LGBT+ Society to ensure their safety in the University.

Trans students do not feel safe or welcomed here – some students’ deadnames have been leaked due to issues with IT systems which the University has admitted are unfit for purpose. This has outed them as trans to groups of strangers on their courses, violating their dignity and privacy, and putting them at risk of transphobic harassment and abuse. When instances of transphobic hate speech have occurred at the University, the University has excused this hate speech as ‘academic debate’ – hate speech is never appropriate and to see the university tolerating it as ‘free expression’ has made many of our members feel unsafe and unheard.

Every day we speak with members who have been maliciously misgendered, asked inappropriate questions in seminars, made to feel excluded in their halls of residence, and had their very existence ‘debated’ about. This has led our trans members to feel immense distress and exhaustion, and many wish they never came to the University of Leeds.

The society has been trying to work with leadership in the University for a year to improve the conditions for trans students and nothing has materially or adequately got better for trans students; some trans students are still being deadnamed and we still hear many accounts of bullying and harassment. Even in these meetings with senior leadership, we have felt ignored and gaslit, and no longer have confidence that the University wish to work with us on our terms to make things better.

We want LUU to work across their organisation, bringing in voices from the Executive, digital and communications and student leaders to put both internal and public pressure on the University to make University safe for trans students. We want LUU to amplify the voices and experiences of trans students as much as possible; we would like to see counselling and structured wellbeing services offered to any trans students who need it, and we would like to see LUU prioritise amplifying trans student voices.