My sister’s middle child recently applied to Wellesley. They were identified female at birth but have been using they/them pronouns for about a year now. Unfortunately, one of the teachers who wrote their recommendation used he/him (which they had been using previously). When they asked the teacher to correct the pronouns, the teacher refused to do so, but it was too late to pull the recommendation. I can’t help but think that teacher’s choice had a little something to do with their application to several women’s colleges, including their 1st choice Wellesley, being rejected despite being a stellar candidate on every level.

This child was taught at home and at school to believe that exploration of gender identity is healthy, normal, and acceptable. Now they are being punished for doing EXACTLY what their parents and teachers told them was right. The prejudice against kids who are investigating this amorphous and ever-changing thing we call gender is unacceptable and appalling.

Wellesley should be a place of inclusion and acceptance of gender nonconformity, after all the college was arguably founded on that very principle. I can’t believe I have to say this to the President of a women’s college in 2023 – but binary gender is a social construct. A social construct that the college and many of its students, faculty, and alumnae have been working to deconstruct since 1870. I couldn’t be more disappointed by my alma mater for suddenly not accepting people/bodies/gender expressions that the college has ALWAYS accepted – that is until they identified as trans.

And just so we’re clear – no one identifies as trans for fun. It isn’t a lark. There are real prices to be paid by those who dare to eschew gender and sex norms. Wellesley shouldn’t be making those prices any higher.

I am confident that President Johnson – and everyone who shares her rigid view of gender and Wellesley’s mission – will find themselves on the wrong side of history, eventually. But in the meantime kids are being hurt and limited by President Johnson’s anti-trans policy. So Madame President, Board of Trustees, et al – here’s to you for punishing our children for doing exactly what we’ve taught them to do! Never forget that your trans ban is hurting real people, not an identity.

Hate is hate is hate.

With love and hope for a better Wellesley -akt

tbh the actual transphobia here is suggesting that it’s ok for trans men (and not cis men) to attend Wellesley bc it suggests they aren’t ‘real men’