In 2007, the phrase “sexual orientation” was added to The University of Alabama’s nondiscrimination and harassment policies. By all accounts, we were egregiously late to the party. At that time, we were one of a very small number of public flagship universities in the United States not to have made this change. And now, six years later, we have more catching up to do as our nondiscrimination policy still doesn’t include gender identity and gender expression.

First, let me clarify some vocabulary. Gender identity refers to one’s internal association with gender, while gender expression refers to one’s external presentation of gender. Cisgender refers to people whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. For example, if on the day you were born a doctor designated you female and you now identify as female, you are cisgender, or cis. But this is not the case for everyone. Transgender, or trans*, is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs or varies from the sex they were assigned at birth.

By not including gender identity and gender expression in our policies, we are ignoring discrimination and harassment against trans* and gender nonconforming people.

Trans* and gender nonconforming people face a disproportionately high rate of verbal and physical abuse, employment discrimination and housing discrimination. One in five trans* individuals report being homeless at some point in their life. This greater context of oppression of trans* people only highlights the already inherent need for their inclusion and safety at institutions of higher learning.

Conversations on this campus over the last several weeks have shed light on the ongoing work we still need to do as a university with regards to inclusion and diversity. Updating our nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity and gender expression is a crucial step in keeping with the goals of this university to celebrate and protect its faculty, staff and students.

I urge administration to make this change as quickly as possible and to further offer full support and protection for trans* people and all LGBTQ+ people at the University.

Noah Cannon is a junior majoring in telecommunication and film. His column runs biweekly on Mondays.