As for many queer people, college was an opportunity for Eddy Risimini to escape his conservative upbringing. “UC was the ultimate freedom for me,” said Risimini, a 19-year-old trans man from Kentucky and a student at the University of Cincinnati. “No one would know what my deadname was, I could fully start over and be seen as a man, and I could start my medical transition,” Risimini added. “UC gave me and other trans people accommodations to live on gender-neutral floors, and overall, I have not experienced any harassment from others because of my identity.”
Then Senate Bill 104—which bans trans students from using restrooms matching their gender identity and colleges from constructing all-gender bathrooms—was signed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine.
Suddenly, the atmosphere on Risimini’s campus began to change. Risimini and the rest of the residents of the gender-neutral floor at Siddall Hall received an e-mail from the Department of Resident Education & Development. “A colleague from our LGBTQ Center and I would like to invite you into a conversation regarding upcoming changes to the residential experience,” the message read. “We had the option to stay in our current arrangement and risk being reported for using the ‘wrong’ restroom and facing a court hearing for breaking the code of conduct, or we could be relocated to an apartment,” Risimini said. “Every single trans person on my floor moved out.”
Read more at The Nation.
