Students rally for LGBTQ support, improved services at University of Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Dozens of students at the University of Louisville protested against Kentucky Senate Bill 150 on Thursday, urging the university to improve services for LGBTQ students.

The newly-passed bill bans gender-affirming medical care for people under the age of 18, and prevents school lessons about gender and sexuality before the sixth grade. SB 150 also requires students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender at birth.

Students want to see university leadership condemn the law, and are pushing for other changes to support the LGBTQ community on campus. Those changes include increased mental health and gender-affirming care providers on campus, funding of the campus LGBT Center, and improvements to campus housing policies.

"We want the Board of Trustees to realize that our demands are overwhelmingly popular across the campus," said rally organizer Andy Rozema. "Specifically, our demands are to fix the housing issues on campus, condemn Senate Bill 150, increase funding for queer counseling, and increase the number of providers that do gender-affirming care on campus."

The group took a petition with 1,000 signatures to a Board of Trustees meeting Thursday afternoon.

"Despite 1,000 signatures on an open letter (including 138 faculty) demanding the University of Louisville support LGBTQ students following SB 150, the University remains silent," organizers said in a news release prior to Thursday's rally.

UofL said in a statement that it has requested increased funding for student support services, provided key training in transgender issues, and has started making changes to its housing procedures to ensure fairness to all students.

Officials said the university supports all of its LGBTQ students.

You can read UofL's full statement below:

"We are aware that recent developments around the country, in the commonwealth and even on our campuses have negatively impacted our LGBTQ students, particularly our transgender students, and their many allies.

This is no small issue. As a university, we value care for others, diversity and inclusion and respect for our fellow Cardinals. We take very seriously any actions that aren’t aligned with those values. We have heard the concerns and are taking action to address those issues here on campus.

Throughout this semester, university leaders have engaged in considerable dialogue with affected students, our student leadership, faculty and staff and the community. In response to concerns raised, we have:

Included a request in the upcoming budget for increased student support services, including for our LGBTQ and other diverse groups;
Provided key training in transgender issues for student leaders, Physical Plant employees and officers in our UofL Police Department, with future training planned for additional members of the campus community;
Assessed and begun to make changes to our housing procedures to ensure fairness to all students.

Again, we want to express our support for our LGBTQ and trans students and will continue to work for the benefit of all our Cardinal community."

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