Partying through the panic: How transgender university students are dealing with the pressure

It’s a cool October evening behind the Triple Six Social in downtown San Marcos, and the transgender students partying at the queer coffeehouse are painfully aware about what’s happening on their campus.

Most of them attend nearby Texas State University, and they’ve all heard the news from Texas A&M, where senior lecturer Melissa McCoul was fired for discussing gender identity as part of a children’s literature class.

As the incident received national attention, Texas representatives and Gov. Greg Abbot accused state universities of pushing “leftist ideology” and sought retribution through mandatory course reviews, intensified scrutiny and demands for sweeping policy changes.

That was September. The shockwaves have continued to rock higher education across the state.

As the students gather at the coffeehouse, Texas State is cooking up its answer to Abbot’s call. So they deal with the stress the best way they know how: By getting out into the community, and getting loud.

The crowd of queer students and allies have gathered this evening to fly their flags, watch drag queens perform and shake hands with a few of the local organizations tabling. 

Behind one of these tables is Kai Pacheco, president of Transcend, a club for trans students at Texas State. Pacheco is new to the role, but is fiercely dedicated to it. He says he’s proud of the ways the club is able to serve San Marcos’ sizable trans community. 

“I know that when I came in as a freshman, I felt very lonely and still freshly new in the community,” Kai tells me. “I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a place where I was able to explore my identity further, and I just think it’s amazing that I’m now able to give that community to someone else.”

In the background, though, there are concerns about what’s happening on campus.

“There are definitely moments of pretty intense hostility,” says Medusa Abercrombie, Transcend’s secretary. “I’ve gotten some pretty intense death stares. I’ve been lucky enough to not have any verbal sort of assaults, or anything.”

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Transphobia has always been a threat to contend with, but as of late, another has arisen: Being erased from curriculum. Policy changes and course reviews have taken particular interest in topics related to gender and gender identity, and Kai says he’s already been able to see the impact.

“I feel like the idea of gender in general is just not really talked about or advocated for,” he says. “Currently, our [club] advisor at the moment is being somewhat targeted because they teach a gender studies course, and they’re essentially attempting to get rid of that.”

Texas Standard reached out to Texas State University for comment about changes in how the school is teaching gender-related topics, but officials declined to speak on the matter.

When we instead reached out to the Texas State Employees Union, which represents some Texas State faculty, many of their members were willing to talk, but they wanted to do so on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation.

I’ve spoken with four people who I verified teach at the university. Their names will not be used in this story.

Our discussions gave some insight into the upcoming implementation of what Texas State is deeming “Value Neutral Instruction.” These new guidelines, which go into effect next semester, ask teachers to change almost everything about their classes, from course descriptions to the structure of assignments.

In a pamphlet instructing faculty on how to institute these new guidelines, Texas State says that they’re designed to promote critical thinking and help teachers retain academic freedom.

The faculty members I spoke with say they will do the exact opposite. Instead, they believe that this new initiative, and the intensified scrutiny that comes with it, will hurt areas of learning that tend to sit on the leading edge of theory and critical thinking, like the humanities and social sciences (these subjects are where transgender students are more likely to see themselves represented).

The faculty members I talked with said that the guidelines are far too vague. They doubt the ability of any reasonable person to be truly neutral in all applications, and say the guidelines leave too many unanswered questions on what they can and cannot teach.

Since crossing a line could mean risking suspension, or their job, faculty members are worried that they may have to avoid issues like transgender identity entirely. Fears of erasure and losing their academic independence are even causing some professors to think about leaving the state.

Meanwhile, transgender students are left feeling unsupported, and the instructors see that. They told me they’ve noticed trans students participating less in class, and experiencing more distress about their academic futures.

Medusa Abercrombie, secretary of Texas State University student organization Transcend, said she’d noticed more intense scrutiny of trans students amid policy changes being implemented at universities across the state around gender identity. Shunya Carroll / Texas Standard

When I asked Medusa Abercrombie what she’d like to see out of the university at a time like this, she told me that she, along with other trans students, are looking for some solidarity.

“Just seeing that Texas State is on our side,” as she puts it. “And it’s not a this-side-or-that-side thing necessarily, but I just mean that they’re going to support us, make sure we’re safe and comfortable. In some aspects, I think they’ve let us down recently in that prospect.”

But as the university takes a step back, the community is stepping up. Even as Texas State debates trans people’s place on campus and in curriculum, Transcend’s leaders insist that they will never disappear.

“We want to let people know that we are here for them,” says Kai Pacheco. “So we make sure we show up, and we’re going to continue to show up for our community, as much as we can.”

Medusa seconds that:

“Our goal is to foster a kind, caring community for the trans students at Texas State, where they can be somewhere, feel safe, and experience joy, even in a place that is rapidly growing more hostile to them,” she says.

The faculty members aren’t sure if, or when, the scrutiny on them and what they teach may pass, but they told us that they’re confident trans students are strong enough to weather it.

Kai is, too. He has faith that standing together – and sometimes throwing a party – will give them the power to overcome.

“I’d say, in these troubling times, stay strong for yourself, stay strong for your community,” he said. “If you feel as if you do not have a community, keep searching, because there is one out there for you.”

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