Earlier this quarter Luka Carfagna and a group of friends showed up at Stagg Field for a kickoff IM men’s soccer match. But after arriving at the stadium, student IM representatives told Carfagna t…
Earlier this quarter Luka Carfagna and a group of friends showed up at Stagg Field for a kickoff IM men’s soccer match. But after arriving at the stadium, student IM representatives told Carfagna that he couldn’t participate on the all-male team because Carfagna, who identifies as transgender, looked biologically female. When Carfagna protested, two of the students referees turned around and snickered.
“They said no girls allowed. I said I identified as transgender and they just looked at me, like ‘What is that?’” Carfagna recalled.
“You have to pick a gender if you’re going to play. I wasn’t able to play. I will not be able to play under my gender of choice.”
Carfagna, a graduate student in a one-year masters program, is a female-to-male transgender student who identifies as genderqueer—a term Carfagna believes captures the transgressive and transformative nature of his sexual identity. For those like Carfagna who describe themselves as genderqueer, the term enables identities that lie within, between, and beyond the male-female gender binary. Carfagna recently began using his preferred name “Luka” and masculine pronouns among close friends, but still introduces himself as Lindsey in class and in wider social circles.
Published – June 2008
http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2008/5/13/transgender-students-navigate-campus-attitudes-and-resources
