Harvard University issues fact sheet claiming gender can change daily

The Widener Library in Harvard University. | Wikimedia Commons/Joseph Williams

The Harvard University office of BGLTQ Student Life has issued a school-sponsored guide claiming that gender can "change from day to day" and saying otherwise is a form of "violence."

According to Campus Reform, the guide asserts that "there are more than two sexes" and that "gender is fluid and changing." The flyer also states that someone's gender identity "can be affirmed and/or expressed in many ways," and can "change from day to day."

The fact sheet explains that anatomical characteristics may not always align with "gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, hormonal makeup, physical anatomy, and/or how one is perceived in daily life."

The guide also cites a post by Organization Intersex International (OII) to claim that at least two percent of people are born with some combination of male and female genitalia, hormones or chromosomes.

The document lists "make-up" and "grooming" choices as forms of gender expression, and it also mentions more extreme examples such as hormone therapy and surgery.

"Transphobic misinformation is a form of systemic violence," the guide stated. "Fixed binaries and biological essentialism, manifest in gendered language, misgendering someone, and the policing of trans bodies, threaten the lives of trans people," it added.

The fact sheet also claimed that transgender people of color are six times more likely than straight white people to experience physical violence during encounters with police.

It further noted that 80 percent of transgender students feel unsafe at school due to their gender expression. The document cited statistics from the group known as "Trans Student Educational Resources" to support the claim.

Some students were reportedly upset the school funds were used for the campaign, but none were able to comment for fear of potential repercussions from the university.

Campus Reform's California campus correspondent Peter Van Voorhis, who originally broke the story, said that students in universities across the U.S. are "sick of this gender nonsense, and are fighting back to promote truth on their campuses."

A similar controversy took place at Harvard in December 2015, when the university distributed "social justice placemats" that was aimed at helping students express their progressive views to family members during Christmas break.

The BLGTQ office runs a number of annual events such as "Queer Prom," as well as a program called "Allyship Workshop," which aims to teach students how to act as an LGBT ally in the community.