The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming voted on Tuesday to pass a bill to provide a fund to help transgender and other students legally change their names with the state of Wyoming so they can pursue a name change in the University’s Human Resources system.
Senators spent about a half hour debating the pros and cons of Senate Bill #2657, and outside voices came to give their input on the bill. After some debate, the legislation passed with only one dissenting vote.
“I think it’s really, really important for this legislation to put trans people on an equal footing with their peers,” Senator Jordan Pierson, one of the authors of the bill, said. “Having a deadname called out in a lecture hall outs trans people, and that can lead to difficult or dangerous situations.”
Students, faculty, staff and community members filled the gallery, and came forward to give ASUW their opinion when the Senate offered the bill up for discussion. Many gave impassioned speeches in support of the legislation.
Tate Beddingfield, the secretary of the LGBT student organization Spectrum, told the Senate about his personal experience attempting to get his name changed.
“When I changed my name through the university, I felt validated and supported by my peers and professors,” he said. “After my sophomore year, I took a job with the Wyoming Conservation Corps, not knowing that my name would be changed back in the system. The first few weeks of class, my legal name was projected to lecture halls and called out in classrooms.”
Beddingfield felt that the current system put trans students in needless danger, citing examples of recent violence against trans people on campus.
Some Senators thought that the bill was too limited in scope and that the legislation should have been amended to allow all students to change their name through the fund. However, most senators who expressed this view did support the bill.
In other business, ASUW gave first readings to 12 other bills, a process which took up the majority of the session. Though these pieces of legislation will not be discussed in detail until next week’s meeting, ASUW Vice President Jacob Wilkins urged that interested students do their research before then.
“We have a lot of legislation coming up, and it’s all pretty impactful,” said Wilkins. “We encourage debate, because if anyone has any concerns with anything, we want to make sure those are voiced on the floor.”
The legislation covers a range of divisive issues, including reforming the rules surrounding priority registration, ASUW giving input on on-campus concealed carry and the Senate’s opinion on a possible elected Board of Trustees. Pierson helped to author a bill about possibly electing Trustees.
“It’s a response to a lot of things that I’ve been hearing around campus, people not supporting the actions that the Board of Trustees take,” said Pierson. “Other universities have elected trustees — we should try that here for better representation.”
For those interested in next week’s proceedings, ASUW will be meeting in the Animal Science building rather than their usual Union chambers at 7:00 on Tuesday, April 16.
