(Image source: Bay News 9)

BY LEXA DECKERT

ANCHOR JENNIFER MECKLES

You're watching multisource video news analysis from Newsy.

The University of South Florida is now offering transgender-friendly dorm options.
Some hope the move will alleviate the fear of housing with strangers for transgender students -- but is it causing a different kind of fear in the student body?
ABC reports details...

“USF is adding a third gender option for transgenders to its housing application and providing special accommodations -- like those coveted single rooms... (FLASH) USF said it decided to add transitioning to its options after one transgender student complained of being mistreated and teased by his roommates.”


Transgender students will get the options to live alone, with a friend, or a randomly assigned roommate.
The housing director for USF said the university was aware of the need before -- but the student who complained, Taymor McCue, really brought it home.
St. Petersburg Times reports the concerns...

“...often lumped together in campus organizations with gays or lesbians, transgender students have much different challenges. Because society - and by extension, college campuses - isn't generally equipped to deal with anything other than male or female, transgender students often have to choose or be left out. Think: sororities and fraternities, sports teams, bathrooms, even pronouns...”


But causing controversy -- that other students won’t know if they’re living with a transgender roommate before move-in.
WTSP interviewed people on both sides of the issue...


GUNN: “It means that people won’t have to be so afraid to pursue themselves.” (FLASH)
NOORE: “Unbelievable, unacceptable... I mean I can’t imaging going into a room where I think there’s a woman, but is actually a man.”
FEMALE: “I think that we should be told from the beginning that a transgender is going to live with you.”

Despite opposition, USF is moving forward -- with transgender-friendly options only the beginning of the changes.
The Ledger reports what’s to come...

“In the spring, the school will launch a pilot program offering several gender-neutral dorm rooms, where anybody of any gender can live with anybody else. The test program will offer eight to 10 spots for students who want to live with another student of a different gender. The students will have to already know their preferred roommates. Rooming with romantic partners will be discouraged.”


USF says -- that backlash isn’t a good enough reason to stop the housing changes.

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