UPDATE 4/15/22:

The professor that used to teach PSYC328 has been replaced with a trans professor who is reconstructing the curriculum to include content about trans experiences. Thank you all for your support thus far!! This is a huge step in the right direction, especially as lawmakers continue to deny trans people access to life-saving, gender affirming mental healthcare.

That being said, we are far from the finish line. The mental health crisis that trans people are experiencing in the US right now has only gotten worse since the proposal of 240+ bills that target the rights and inclusion of trans people-- all in 2022. On top of this, multiple states are actively trying to legally prohibit educators from discussing any matters surrounding gender identity or sexual orientation. Because of this, I am forming a Genderqueer Psychology committee that focuses on extending trans perspectives everywhere they are missing and needed. If you are a UIUC psychology major and you are interested, contact me via my email, which is listed below.

Let me catch you up:

The Psychology of Gender (328) course curriculum at UIUC blatantly omits critical information about transgender, nonbinary, genderqueer, and gender nonconforming people. Department members have made several claims about why this course will not be discussing genderqueer people. The most prominent claim being that “there are not enough studies” surrounding gender queer people and psychology. This is false; towards the bottom of the attached document, there are several recent studies that were disregarded in the conception of the course. Our professor has also stated that to compensate for this erasure, we will be having a unit discussing the statistical prevalence of hate crimes against our communities. This is inadequate representation, and the notion that we are only relevant to this extent is dehumanizing and entirely inaccurate. Our professor has doubled down multiple times throughout the semester on the course’s primary and exclusionary focus on cisgender people.

Here is our main goal:

We need to ensure that the UIUC Psychology Department requires the inclusion of gender queer people in its program. Not one unit about violence against us, not multiple messages that we aren’t relevant, but inclusive representation that we will explicitly define and outline. Our demand is this: we want the Psychology of Gender 328 course to include content regarding genderqueer people & psychology, and we want a new, separate psychology course titled “Genderqueer Psychology,” which will be a required course for all psychology majors with the following concentrations: diversity science, cognitive, developmental, interdisciplinary, clinical-community, and social psychology. We believe that students in these concentrations will be the people that genderqueer people are most likely to look to as mental health resources, so they should be educated appropriately.

That being said, I am in no way fully equipped to represent every genderqueer student’s best interest in this statement. If you feel that I am missing something, you can reach out to me at the email address below. Feel free to share the document and the petition with others who might be interested.

Email: jgarc275@illinois.edu

For more information, please visit and share the link below:

Gender Inclusivity in UIUC Psychology