I’m a prospective undergrad for 2019 and I’m FtM transgender. I know the school has a rather large LGBT resource center, but not knowing the actual culture surrounding the issue is stressing me out. I identify as male but because my parents are generally not supportive, I can’t medically transition until I’m in college, which means I’ll appear mostly biologically female at the beginning of the year and male at the end of the year. Their website says gender inclusive housing is only available to non-freshmen students and also says nothing about the bathroom situation if you do opt in (which is my main concern). If I put myself in a male dorm, will people really care? Is there any way to guarantee my roommate will be cool with me? Being trans isn’t like a huge identity thing for me and I don’t really even want to openly identify as such. So basically, guys of Cornell, would anyone actually care if I lived there/used male bathrooms? Or would they secretly hate me and talk behind my back about how stupid Cornell is being for letting a “woman pretend she’s a guy”?
I am so sorry that your parents aren’t being supportive enough in your transition. Hopefully they will come around. It is a difficult thing for family to come to terms with. Even when their love is unconditional, they often don’t realize what’s truly best for their child.
Fortunately, there is good news. You must have gotten your information from an outdated page, Cornell does indeed have gender inclusive housing available.
“All incoming first-year and transfer students, as well as current undergraduate students may share a room or suite with someone of a different biological sex, gender, or gender identity. When you apply for housing, you may opt in to mixed-gender housing after viewing a video and agreeing to the rules. Note that everyone wishing to share a room or suite with someone of a different gender must opt in when applying for housing.”
And by the way, there are no male only Freshman dorms. I’m not sure of the bathroom situation. But I assume in mixed gender housing, the bathrooms are co-ed.
I think that although there will be idiots where ever you are, most students at Cornell are very accepting cool individuals.