Statements of support

Practitioners in the field of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and American Ethnic Studies are deeply committed to making connections between the work we do in the academy and the world outside its walls. We model this ethos in our classrooms by asking our students to reflect on and make those connections as well. As part of this labor, we author and/or sign on to statements of support and solidarity relating to pressing political issues. Those statements are gathered here.

Sexual Assault Survivors Solidarity Statement

We in the K-State community want you to know:

We support survivors. We support those who share their stories and those who do not.

We support those who come forward and those who do not. Trauma is not linear; it impacts each person differently. As allies, we are not going to judge where you are in your journey of healing. It is our duty to create safe, trauma-informed spaces in which you will not be subject to judgement, fear, or harassment, and we take that seriously,

We are in solidarity with students, staff, and faculty members who have been victims of sexual violence and support you fully on campus in our classrooms and our offices, and off campus in our communities.

We believe women. We believe men. We believe those who are transgender, nonbinary, trans*, genderqueer, two-spirit, and gender-fluid. Sexual violence affects and is committed by people of all gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, religions, and nationalities.

We believe you. You are not alone.

We want to remind you that we are here for you and there are resource available both on and off-campus to help you.

CARE is located in Holton Hall 206 and is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday. It is a confidential office and you can share as much or as little as you like with an advocate. You can also call CARE at 785-532-6444.

Counseling Services is located in the lower level of the Lafene Health Center Building and can be reached at 785-532-6927. The office is open Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and phones are answered 24/7 by mental health professionals so mental health consultation is always available. Counseling Services offers confidential mental health crisis and therapy services.

For 24-hour support, the Crisis Center of Manhattan is available at 785-539-2785 as well as the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

We are here for you, every step of the way.

Yours in solidarity,

Provost Charles Taber; Center for Advocacy, Response and Education (CARE); Department of Social Transformation Studies; Counseling Services; LGBT Resource Center; Safe Zone; Student Access Center; K-State First; Office of First-Generation Students; Career Center; Academic Achievement Center; Staley School of Leadership; School of Music, Theater, and Dance; Drama Therapy Program; Cat's Cupboard; and the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Inquiry

Trans*, Intersex, and Non-Binary Statement of Support

We in the K-State community want to say clearly and unequivocally,

we support trans, intersex, and non-binary students, faculty and staff. We see you. We love you. We are dedicated to protecting you from discrimination and harassment.

In keeping with ongoing attempts to roll back hard-fought safeguards, the Federal government is working to render over 1.4 million transgender people in the U.S. without civil rights protections. From Health and Human Services Department to the U.S. Justice Department's official memos of understanding and Amicus briefs, it is clear that in defining "sex" in Title IX and in Civil Rights Act as biological and determined exclusively through genitalia at birth, discrimination base on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and intersex variations could be legally sanction. This extends beyond federal policies as well, as U.S. official have been attempting to remove "gender" from United Nations human rights documents.From schools, to prisons, to hospitals, to homeless shelters, trans and queer people trying to access basic, life-sustaining resourses, or those who are navigating sexist, transphobic, and homophobic state apparatuses will have far less recourse. These proposed changes are not only hostile toward individual with minoritized gender identities, but they are also a denial of human biological diversity, ignoring the approximately 3.3 million Americans with intersex variations, meaning that their bodies do not conform to typical definitions of male or female.

Here at K-State, discrimination is prohibited based on "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" explicitly. In the city of Manhattan, "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" are protected classes under the anti-discrimination ordinance (https://cityofmhk.com/2787/Non-Discrimination-Ordinance), thanks to the unwavering efforts of the Flint Hills Human Rights Campaign.

While there are protections and support networks in place, this kind of public attack on trans and intersex existence does violence. It represents trans people and undesirable and disposable and intersex people are non-existent. It teaches the public that anti-trans policies will be federally accepted and endorsed. It supports those who would work to lessen the life chances and the right to bodily autonomy and self-determination of trans and intersex folks through the denial of services. And it makes the structural enforcement of gender norms state policy. To be sure, this policy will hurt millions of people and have dire consequences. It is reckless and dangerous.

We want to say, you are not alone. Your identity is valid. You are an Important, valued part of this community.

Our campus LGBTQ21A+ organization, departments, and allies are here as a source of solidarity, support, and validation. Student groups like the Sexuality and Gender Alliance; Gender Collective; oSTEM; the LGBTQ* Faculty Staff Alliance; the LGBT Resource Center; the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department, the Transgender Taskforce, the American Ethnic Studies Department: and other campus and national resources are here for you. You can contact counseling services through their website, meet with advocate at the CARE office, talk to the Office of Student Life, and call the Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 or The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386.

You matter. Who you are is Legitimate. We will not let you be erased.

This statement was drafted by the LGBTQ* Faculty Staff Alliance and the KSU Gender Collective. Organizations co-signing in support of this statement include: oSTEM; Sexuality and Gender Alliance; GLAD campus ambassadors; the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Department; the Center for Advocacy; Response and Education (CARE) Office; the Black Faculty and Staff Alliance; the Pan-Asian Coalition; the Indigenous Faculty and Staff Alliance; the English Department; The LGBT Resource Center; and Affinity Group Leadership at K-State.