Trans Campaigns

Last year, we campaigned for gender neutral bathrooms in every campus across the college and thanks to the hardwork of last year’s committee we have been successful with this! More info to come… (Updated 11/05/11)

Map of gender neutral bathrooms to come…

Information for trans* students at King’s

Whether questioning your identity or having decided, whether transitioning or not, whether binary or non-binary and whether you are out, stealth or not open, student life is different if you are transgendered.

The information in this guide aims to explain and inform about some of the needs and processes you may want help with, or might not have considered yet, with regards to life as a trans* student. It offers information as well as points of contact for further information, all of which will be treated confidentially. If you want to discuss any of these issues, please contact either us on support@kingslgbt.co.uk or the Equalities Co-ordinator Debbie Epstein (Debbie.epstein@kcl.ac.uk)

Support

Living either full or part time in accordance with your gender identity bring their own complications and even if you are considering neither of them, living with gender dysphoria can be emotionally draining and a catalyst or instigator for other problems.  As such, ensuring that you have adequate support is important.

King’s LGBT offers support, socialising and advice to all LGBTQ students at King’s, and is fully inclusive of trans* students of all persuasions (http://kingslgbt.co.uk/).  There is a Welfare and Trans Officer, who both are able to act as points of contact, help you connect to larger trans* communities, to advise on LGBT issues or just to listen if you need to talk to someone with a similar situation. Membership is free and confidential and you don’t need to specify whether you’re lesbian, gay, bi, trans* or anything else when you join.

Whilst there aren’t likely to be a great number of trans* members in the LGBT society in any given year, there will be a completely supportive, non judgemental space. Members of the society can empathise with a lot of the issues trans* face and add to the support and socialising you may have via larger, more specialised London based trans* groups such as Gendered Intelligence or Queer Youth Network.

If you think it would be beneficial for you, King’s has a counselling service located in the 3^rd floor of the MacAdam building (The Strand) (http://www.kcl.ac.uk/about/structure/admin/facser/support/counselling/). You will need to fill out a confidential self assessment form, which you can submit online, prior to being given an appointment. If you are thinking about transitioning with the help of the NHS, you would be advised to request an appointment with the counselling service’s consultant psychiatrist as they will be able to provide a referral directly to the NHS Gender Identity Clinics.

Furthermore, as they will be involved with your academic life in various capacities, it could be useful to inform you personal tutor if you believe that your trans* status will affect your academic life at all- this will help your tutor in keeping your status from hindering your academic performance.

The Equalities Co-ordinator, Debbie Epstein, is able to act as a point of contact with the KCL Student Union. Where problems with treatment in the KCLSU, amending documents or information or similar matters arise, the Equalities Co-ordinator is able to assist you. In particular, for some documentation changes, you will need to provide documentation referencing your assigned name (e.g. a statutory declaration to change your degree certificate). To avoid having to show this to multiple people, the equalities co-ordinator can vouch for you having the appropriate documentation if you present it to her.

Health

In addition to the counselling service, the King’s College Student Health Centre is able to assist some trans* specific needs. Whilst not always necessary, the Student Health Centre will be able to run blood tests at the request of a GP, with the results available in 6-10 days. These are usually done during the Sit and Wait Clinic, which is run daily from 11:00 to 13:30.

Whilst NHS pathway Gender Identity Clinics will generally take and analyse blood samples for the endocrinological monitoring necessary for hormone therapy at their own endocrinology departments, tests for private treatment can be done for free at the health centre.

Eventually NHS prescription on hormone therapy can also be directed and issued through your GP at the Health Centre.

When seeking referrals for treatment for Gender Identity Disorder, for hormone treatment on the NHS and surgery both on the NHS and privately, you will need to provide proof of living ‘in-role’ in your daily life. This is known as the Real Life Experience (RLE) test and is a recommendation of the WPATH guidelines for treating transgendered individuals.

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The impact of the above or other trans* related factors will be taken into consideration if you include them in a mitigating circumstances request. In filling out the mitigating circumstances request form, you do not have to reveal your trans* status: simply saying that you have been under emotional/psychological stress, how it has hindered your studies, that you have had to attend numerous medical appointments and so on will be sufficient. It is advisable to include a line stating that you do not wish to disclose the nature of your condition, but are willing to if deemed necessary.  From the author’s experience, you will not be asked to disclose the full reason. It can also help to have informed your personal tutor of your situation, in order that they can confirm to other staff that you have genuine mitigating circumstances without explicitly outing you.

To whom it may concern,       I am a [Position] at King’s College London and teach on the [your degree programme] programme on which [your name] is enrolled. [She/he/they] [is/are] also one of my personal tutees.      I have known about [your name]’s gender identity issues since [Date], when [She/he/they] discussed them with me, due to the impact [her/his/their] situation was having on [her/his/their] studies. [She/he/they] began attending university presenting unambiguously [female/male/in accordance with their identity] in [month] and requested that staff use [her/his/their] preferred name at around the same time. I also understand that [She/he/they] has had [her/his/their] student records amended to reflect this transition.      Yours faithfully,[Member of Staff] [Contact details]

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Your personal tutor will be able to provide a letter ‘witnessing’ your RLE. The template below is an example that is sufficient for the NHS Gender Identity Clinics and you can provide your tutor with it. It should be printed on King’s College letterheaded paper and include the tutors contact details.

With this you will have proof of living in role. If you are stealth (you live full time in your preferred identity but are not ‘openly’ trans*), you can simply request that your tutor write you an evaluation for the first semester they met you in. This will provide proof that they know you by your preferred name and gender without outing you as trans*.

Presenting on Campus

You can present/dress on campus as you like and no staff have the right to ask you to dress in accordance with your assigned gender. If you receive any transphobic harassment for dressing in accordance with your gender identity, you can report this to the KCL Equalities Co-ordinator, your personal tutor or the appropriate LGBT Campaign officer, who can support and advise you.

Bathrooms on Campus

The King’s College London Trans Equality Statement provides that:

A trans* person will have access to single-sex facilities e.g. toilets and changing rooms according to the gender by which they identify and the College has a legal and ethical duty to support them while they are at work. They should not be bullied or harassed into using either the facilities of their birth gender or the accessible/disabled toilets. Such behaviour will be dealt with under the College’s Policy on Harassment, Bullying and Discrimination for students (students) and/or the Dignity at Work Policy and Procedure (staff)

You have the right to use the bathroom of the gender you identify with, regardless of your presentation. For non-binary students, students who are early in their transitions and anyone else uncomfortable using a gendered bathroom, KCLSU is converting a number of single occupant bathrooms to gender neutral bathrooms, to be marked with a WC sign. A map of these bathrooms can be found on the King’s LGBT Campaign website.

Amending Documents

Your name, gender and preferred title are stored in several places when you enrol at King’s College London. If you wish to change these to ensure that how you are referred to in records, attendance lists, and email addresses etc, reflects your gender identity, you can amend these at any time.

You do not need any legal proof of a name change to change any KCL record except your final degree certificate, as it is a legal document.

To amend your name, title and gender on any records, go to the enquiry counter at The Compass, in the MacAdam building. You only need to bring a written request to amend the records and an official piece of identification (e.g. the one you used to enrol initially) but this does not have to be in your preferred name and is only used to confirm your identity.

For the written request, simply fill out the template below, print it out and bring a signed copy to the compass. As references to your name and gender are stored in numerous places, amending them can be a lengthy process- as such bigendered/genderfluid students are requested to use only one ‘official identity’. The possibility of having a gender neutral title is being considered. Should a reference to your name be left uncorrected, contact ISS at issenquiry@kcl.ac.uk and request that they amend it.

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To whom it may concern,I am enrolled at King’s College London as [Former Name], student number [your student number].I wish to amend my student record, ID card, university email address and any other reference to my name, gender and title in any King’s College documents to reflect my preferred gender identity. Therefore, I wish henceforth known to be known as [preferred name] and my gender or sex recorded as [Female/Male/Other]. I understand that my records will be updated accordingly.I understand that a new student file will be created in my new name and any documents referring to my former name [Former Name] and gender [Assigned Gender] will be marked as ‘confidential’ and not released without my permission, including this notification of intent, which will be kept in a sealed envelope.I understand that I must legally change my name and provide evidence for this change before my degree certificate can be issued in my new name by King’s College London. Signed ______________ on [Date]

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All records barring the final degree certificate will then be updated, including your email. With this complete, visit the administrative office for your department and request that they update all references they have to your former name.

You may also ask them or your personal tutor to contact all staff responsible for teaching you and advise them of your name change- they do not need to be told why you have changed your name. Staff will then refer to you by your preferred name as requested.

With your student record updated, you are also able to update your NHS record at the Student Health Centre, including gender. Be aware that amending your gender on these records can cause your blood test results to be flagged as anomalous- as such it is strongly advised to inform your GP of your situation.

Mitigating Circumstances

As indicated above, being trans* can place a tremendous strain on you and hamper your performance. Whilst we hope that this won’t happen, we recognise the possibility that emotional stress and numerous medical appointments can detrimentally affect your performance.