In Fall 2015, UNF Department of Housing and Residence Life, in collaboration with the LGBT Resource Center, launched its first Gender Inclusive Housing Community.
Gender Inclusive Housing (GIH) is a living community open to all students who do not want gender to be a factor in who they decide to live with. The intent of Gender Inclusive Housing is for students to live together in a safe and inclusive space while exploring and advocating for gender diversity. Most college students agree that living with a new roommate can be stressful, but the experience can be especially difficult for LGBTQ students, who face the additional layer of potential judgment and discomfort from an unaccepting roommate.
Residents within the GIH community celebrate and affirm the cultural experiences of gender expansiveness while welcoming the diverse and complex identities of every resident. GIH also provides safe and inclusive option for transgender or gender nonconforming students, students in the process of discovering their gender identity, gay or bisexual students, students who feel uncomfortable rooming with members of the same sex, intersex students who do not wish to be identified by any sex, and students who feel that they would be more comfortable with a roommate of a different gender.
All students – transgender, gay, straight, etc.– can benefit from living with and learning from students whose identities and backgrounds differ from their own. GIH provides UNF a unique and ground breaking way to attract world class students who contribute to a diverse and supportive campus culture.
If you are interested in living in the GIH community next year, please contact the Office of Housing and Residence Life by calling 620-4663, e-mailing housing@unf.edu, or visiting https://www.unf.edu/housing/llc/Gender_Inclusive_Housing.aspx. If you have questions about sexual orientation or gender identity and expression, please stop by the LGBT Resource Center at Building 58E, room 1111 or send an e-mail to unflgbt@unf.edu.
–Kaitlin Legg, assistant director, LGBT Resource Center
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