At Florida State University, students are being educated on etiquette — where the sexually marginalized are concerned.

The college boasts an Allies and Safe Zones program, which encourages the following pledge:

I am an Ally, and this space is a Safe Zone.

I am committed to working toward providing a safe, confidential support network for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.

I am committed to treating everyone with the dignity and respect they deserve.

In support of the above, the program offers 10 “Educational Handouts”:

• Action Continuum for Allies
• Tips for Allies
• Allies & Safe Zones 101 Vocabulary List
• Attitude Continuum for Allies
• Ideas for Allies
• Bi-Basics
• Trans Allies
• Personal Gender Pronoun Options
• When a Friend Comes Out
• Transgender Etiquette

The Transgender Etiquette brochure lists unacceptable “backhanded compliments”:

• “When did you decide you were a man/woman?”
• “You seem so normal.”
• “You look just like a real man/woman!”
• “Are you pre- or post-op?”
• “You’re so pretty, I never would’ve known!”

Enrollees are instructed to always use someone’s preferred pronouns — “if you don’t know what pronouns to use, ask.”

And don’t get it twisted; trans people are pervasive:

Don’t assume you can tell whether someone is transgender by looking. You should always assume there may be a transgender person present in any gathering and communicate respectfully.

Moreover, don’t sweat the small stuff:

Don’t worry about what bathroom people use.

Every member of the FSU community is free to use whichever restroom aligns with their gender identity. Transgender people use the bathroom for the same reason cisgender people do. It isn’t up to other people to decide whether a person is in the “right” restroom. If a person chooses that bathroom, it is the right bathroom for them. The mere presence of a person in the restroom is not dangerous or harassing activity and is not a cause for alarm or complaint.

Regarding Ideas for Allies, here are a few:

• Refuse to tolerate anti-lesbian, -gay, -bisexual or -trans comments, attitudes, remarks or jokes.
• Ask others that any anti-lesbian, -gay, -bisexual or –trans humor displayed in common areas be removed completely or placed within private office or living spaces.
• Display positive materials in support of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans. If possible, post flyers on activities, support groups, programs, and resources for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans.
• Have available referral information for services which people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans might need.
• Provide positive reinforcement to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans to help counter the messages of shame and guilt about homosexuality that are so prevalent in society.

FSU’s Bi-Basics implores students to avoid the following biphobic behavior:

• Assuming that everyone you meet is either heterosexual or homosexual.
• Not confronting a biphobic remark or joke for fear of being identified as bisexual.
• Automatically assuming romantic couplings of two women are lesbian, or two men are gay, or a man and a woman are heterosexual.
• Believing bisexual men spread AIDS/HIV and other STDs to heterosexuals.
• Thinking that bisexual people will have their rights when lesbian and gay people win theirs.

Lastly, the leaflet schools students on sexual reality. As it turns out, males are far less picky than females:

[A]s many as 15-25 percent of women and 33-46 percent of men may be bisexual.

College — like society — has radically transformed. In the past, people were left to work out social clashes among themselves. Presently, institutions instruct us on how to behave, which words to speak, and what to believe. We’re resultantly freed from the burden of independent thinking as the state thinks on our behalf.

Apropos of epic revolution, America’s heteronormative scourge looks to have gotten substantially squashed. After all, nearly half the nation’s men hanker to make it with people with prostates.

-ALEX

See more content from me:

School District’s New Math Curriculum Teaches Kids They Don’t Have to Be Boys or Girls

Gross Error: Virginia Elections Department Discovers Nearly 20,000 Deceased Registered Voters

Elite University Rejects Transgender Sports Research Proposal Because It Uses the Word ‘Male’

Find all my RedState work here.

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