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The School of Education Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee will be co-hosting the 2nd annual policy forum on the future of transgender and non-binary people from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 19, the Cabell Library, Rm. 303.

Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

This forum will focus on the intersection of policy creation/implementation with transgender and non-binary people. The lead organizer of the event is Peter Jenkins, an openly non-binary graduate student here at VCU with a focus on public policy. They have noticed a startling lack of literature on their community, especially when it comes to transgender people. While many of the topics to be covered have been discussed in meetings amongst advocates and activists alike, they believe the same cannot be said for researchers and academics. Their hope is that this event can contribute not only to academic work in various fields of study but also everyday policy-making.

Some of the issues we will cover at this event include Immigration, Healthcare, Criminal Justice Reform, Emergency Preparedness, and more.

Our committee is supporting this event because Virginia has become an interesting nexus for transgender/non-binary identity and education policy whether we look at the court battle involving Gavin Grimm or the recent middle school lock down drill in Stafford County where a transgender student was barred from seeking the same shelter as every other student because the spaces were separated by gender and the educators debated what would be the safest option for the other students seeking shelter.