Gender Recognition FAQ

Our campus is working to improve processes, practices, and policies in order to serve students, faculty, staff and patients who are transgender, intersex and nonbinary and to be more inclusive. Many parts of employment processes, housing, sports facilities, payroll systems and recreational areas are designated by gender in a binary way (men and women), and people around the campus are reviewing and working to update those systems. For example, we are striving to do the following:

• Include a nonbinary option in systems which store and use gender;
• Include nonbinary people in reports which indicate gender;
• Update name fields to default to preferred names unless there is a legal or regulatory requirement to use legal name; and
• Educating about and encouraging the use of personal pronouns and names.

• Preferred names, Lived names, Names in use
  • Names other than legal names which many people use for a variety of reasons
• Why we use them
  • It is a shortened/alternate version of the legal name
    • Robert = Rob or Bob
    • Elizabeth = Liz
    • Francisco = Paco or Pancho
    • Jesús = Chuy
  • Cultural, religious, personal or familial preference/ practice
    • Eleanor Roosevelt (first name: Anna)
    • Mindy Kaling (first name: Vera)
    • Rihanna (first name: Robyn)
    • Reese Witherspoon (first names: Laura Jeanne).
  • It is a scholar/student who selects another name for campus use because people mispronounce their given / birth names
  • Your given / birth name does not reflect your gender identity

Reach out to your supervisor. They may need to first assess places where your area uses gender in a binary way (i.e. male and female, or men and women).  Then, they would need to determine what steps might need to be implemented in order to ensure inclusion of nonbinary people, and an “x” category into these systems.  This might entail updating campus data systems, reformatting reports, including nonbinary people in surveys and assessments, and addressing physical spaces and facilities.  This may also require training for frontline staff to ensure appropriate implementation of inclusive policies and customer service practices. 

Transgender is an umbrella term used to describe people whose gender identity or gender expression do not match the gender they were assigned at birth.  For example, some people who were assigned to be male at birth are female (trans women).  Some people who were assigned to be female at birth are male (trans men).  Some transgender people have medically transitioned, undergoing gender affirming surgeries and hormonal treatments, while other transgender people do not choose any form of medical transition. There is no uniform set of procedures that are sought by transgender people that pursue medical transition. Transgender people may identify as female, male, or nonbinary, may or may not have been born with intersex traits, may or may not use gender-neutral pronouns, and may or may not use more specific terms to describe their genders, such as agender, genderqueer, gender fluid, Two Spirit, bigender, pangender, gender nonconforming, or gender variant.

About the term nonbinary: Gender identity and expression may be thought of in binary terms: Male and female, men and women, masculine and feminine. Many transgender people fall on this binary. Trans women are women, trans men are men. Some transgender people do not fall on this binary.  They identify as nonbinary, agender, gender fluid, gender non conforming, etc. Nonbinary people’s gender identity and expression may not conform to societal norms of masculinity or femininity. Nonbinary people may prefer the pronouns “they/them” in the singular, or their name. Some people use the term Gender Queer to describe this identity.  Queer is a term that is offensive to some when used as a derogatory term. Others have reclaimed and self-defined the word as a form of empowerment.

About the term intersex: Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural bodily variations. In some cases, intersex traits are visible at birth while in others, they are not apparent until puberty. Some chromosomal intersex variations may not be physically apparent at all. For more information please see https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UNFE-Intersex.pdf

Yes.  Oregon created a nonbinary gender option in 2017 through an administrative action applying to drivers’ licenses and identification cards. Similarly, the DMV for Washington, D.C. began offering an “X” in addition to “M” and “F” in June of 2017.  Other countries like New Zealand have moved in a similar direction in 2016.

By UC policy, the conversion of all existing single-occupancy or single-stall restrooms in all UC-owned buildings from gender-specific to gender inclusive facilities has been complete.  For more information, see http://blink.ucsd.edu/facilities/services/general/personal/restrooms.html for more information.  However, access remains an issue, as some people must go from the top floor of a building, outside, across a street and into another building to access a single-occupancy or single-stall restroom.  Conversion of some multi-stall restrooms into multi-stall gender inclusive restrooms, or remodeling facilities to add additional single-occupancy or single-stall restrooms, addresses this issue.

• Gender identity and expression may be thought of in binary terms: Male and female, men and women, masculine and feminine.
• Many transgender people fall on this binary. Trans women are women, trans men are men.
  • Some transgender people do not fall on this binary.  They identify as nonbinary, agender, gender fluid, gender queer, gender non conforming, etc.
• Nonbinary people’s gender identity and expression may not conform to societal norms of masculinity or femininity
• Nonbinary people may prefer the pronouns “they/them” in the singular, or their name

• Sex may be thought of in binary terms: Male and female, boys and girls. This is typically assigned at birth
• Some people are born with chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones and/or genitalia which do not meet the medical standards of male or female. These infants are intersex
  • Best practice is no non-necessary medical intervention, gender designation, age-appropriate education about an intersex child's body as they develop, and choice in adolescence
• Intersex persons often may not know their gender identity until adolescence
• Hermaphrodite is an outdated and inappropriate term for the community

UC and UC San Diego  do not tolerate discrimination based on

• Gender
  • Includes nonbinary
• Gender Identity & Expression
  • This includes pronouns and preferred names
  • Includes gender neutral pronouns

*These policies include but are not limited to Academic Personnel M015 – The University of California Policy on Faculty Conduct and the Administration of Discipline; The University of California Personnel Policies for Staff Members and UC San Diego Implementing Procedures, Appendix II – Personnel Policies for Senior Managers; the University of California, San Diego Student Conduct Code; UC San Diego House Officer Policy and Procedure Document; and applicable university collective bargaining agreements. 

A quick and easy way to communicate you have some level of knowledge around our trans, nonbinary, gender queer and gender non conforming community is to share your pronouns in signature lines, business cards, name tags, and introductions.
 

• Singature lines, business cards and name tags

• Gendered
• Mr.
• Miss
• Ms.
• Mrs.

• Inclusive
• Mix (abbreviated Mx.)
• Pronounced mix
• Used by some nonbinary and trans people as gender inclusive title.  Should not be applied to all people generally.
• For more information, please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mx_(title)