“Trans welcome” – including at ETH
Renate Schubert, Associate Vice President for Equal Opportunities and Head of Equal, the Office of Equal Opportunities, can understand the issue very well and she points out that a website is under construction specifically to provide information for transgender people. “The LGBT situation at ETH definitely falls within the remit of Equal – we are going to step up our activities on that front”, comments Schubert.
ETH is not being idle: since the spring the university has been a member of “trans welcome”, which is a portal for Swiss employers and companies who welcome transgender people. Equal is receiving a growing number of inquiries about transgender. As a result, there is increasing cooperation with the Transgender Network Switzerland to find the right solutions for everyone. Many people don’t know that in 2013, ETH Zurich became one of the first universities in Switzerland to implement a
regulation
to facilitate name changing for transgender people on certificates and diplomas.
Leading universities are becoming more colourful
A survey of the leading American and British universities reveals that they already actively nurture their LGBT community. Harvard has an “Office of BGLTQ Student life”, Oxford offers an “LGBT History Month Lecture” and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has a rainbow-coloured “You are welcome here” page. “I am convinced that ETH will also benefit if it actively welcomes LGBT people, as students who feel secure and accepted, feel, study, work and research better”, argues Decaminada.
Having more open dialogue would also counter the phenomenon that Sabine Python calls the “double stereotype”. The small number of women studying traditionally male degree programmes, such as mechanical engineering, are all too quickly seen as lesbian. That does not just entrench the image of lesbian students as “manly” women. It could also make students who don’t conform to that stereotype uncomfortable because, for example, they are “feminine” lesbians or heterosexual. Doing away with this stereotype could also encourage more women to enrol in those degree programmes.
Rainbow flag at ETH
ETH Zurich will display the rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBT community, as a banner on its main building at the weekend. “We wanted to make a statement and show that our university is tolerant and open to all. The Zurich Pride Festival is the right time to do that”, says Renate Schubert. Alessandro Decaminada and Sabine Python are very pleased by this gesture on the part of ETH Zurich: “It is a clear statement by ETH that LGBT people are welcome here – great!” L-Punkt and z&h will also have their own stand at the Kasernenareal during the festival. Obviously everyone – of all colours – is very welcome to drop by.
