Six years ago, Portland State Women’s Studies Professor Christa Orth was performing around Portland as a drag king with Come Out Against the War, a queer group with a political edge. Today, she is co-chair of the Sexual Gender Equality Task Force at PSU, the group that recently helped add protections for the transgender community in the office and classroom. Orth has not gone far from her days as an activist.
An advocate for gender equality
Six years ago, Portland State Women’s Studies Professor Christa Orth was performing around Portland as a drag king with Come Out Against the War, a queer group with a political edge.
Today, she is co-chair of the Sexual Gender Equality Task Force at PSU, the group that recently helped add protections for the transgender community in the office and classroom. Orth has not gone far from her days as an activist.
“I have been involved in queer activism my whole adult life,” Orth said.
On Jan. 1, the Oregon Office of Affirmative Action and Equality Opportunity added the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of factors protected by PSU’s anti-discrimination and affirmative action statements, in response to state anti-discrimination legislation that also took effect Jan. 1.
The Sexual Gender Equality Task Force (SAGE) met with the office of affirmative action last year to discuss the addition of language that would protect transgender individuals at PSU, Orth said. Both SAGE and the Office of Affirmative Action agreed the language needed to be added to the university’s anti-discriminatory policy.
Orth believes the new additions to affirmative action law are a step in the right direction.
“Transgenders have been marginalized from the gay rights movement, even though they have always been on the front lines and in general a lot of people just aren’t aware that these issues exist,” Orth said. “It is relevant now because it is emerging like never before.”
SAGE was created in the 1990s by the Office of the President to deal with issues of equity involving students, faculty, and staff with issues of gender identity and expression.
Orth said she wants the new legislation to inspire transgender people to continually involve themselves in fighting for equal rights.
“I hope transgender issues and folks will continue to be included in queer rights activism,” she said. “And through SAGE, be able to protect them and help educate people so that all can have equality and access to all the resources.”
SAGE has already been successful in installing gender-neutral bathrooms throughout campus, and is working on designing the new student recreation center, scheduled to open in fall 2009.
SAGE still has many responsibilities to help the transgender community at PSU, Orth said.
“This year SAGE will be working with groups from Res Life, SHAC, and campus safety because these are the areas where students, in particular, come into contact with discrimination,” Orth said.
When she isn’t busy with SAGE, Orth teaches classes in the women’s studies department, including a senior capstone on the preservation of queer and transgender history. Orth is also currently the president of the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, an independent non-profit group for archiving gay and lesbian documents, and aims to publish research on the subject one day.
The next step Orth wants to see is the proposed sexuality, gender and queer studies minor approved for the next school year, something that she hopes will increase attention to the cause.
“When it is approved it will be the first of its kind in Oregon and one of the few in the nation, so I hope that it will attract more students interested in these issues to Portland State,” said Orth.
