Genny Beemyn

Director of The Stonewall Center University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • Amherst MA

Genny Beemyn is an expert on the lives of transgender college students and on trans-inclusive policies and practices on college campuses.

Contact

University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Expertise

LGBTQ Equality
Transgender Issues
Trans Youth
Transgender Mental Health
Transgender Law and Policy
Transgender College Students
Diversity & Inclusion in Higher Education

Biography

Genny Beemyn, one of the country’s first out nonbinary college administrators, has been the director of UMass Amherst's Stonewall Center since 2006.

Beemyn has been interviewed widely to discuss the experiences of transgender college students and the development of trans-inclusive policies and practices on college campuses.

Social Media

Video

Education

University of Iowa

Ph.D.

African American Studies/American Studies

University of Rochester

M.S.

Higher Education

Cornell University

B.A.

Africana Studies and Political Science

Select Recent Media Coverage

Stonewall Center prepares students for LGBTQIA+ rights to be scaled back under Trump

New England Public Media  online

2024-12-13

Trump has said he will reverse the Biden administration’s action seeking to protect transgender students from discrimination in schools. “I worry about what sort of challenges there might be to being able to change gender marker on birth certificates and driver's licenses, as well as the federal record issue,” said Genny Beemyn, director of the Stonewall Center.

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Women’s college in Virginia bars transgender students based on founder’s will from 1900

AP  online

2024-08-30

Genny Beemyn, director of the Stonewall Center, says that 23 historically women’s colleges have policies that admit at least some trans students while three historically women’s colleges bar most trans women.

What to Know About the Trans Pride Flag

TIME  online

2024-06-06

Genny Beemyn, director of UMass Amherst’s Stonewall Center, comments in an article about the meaning of the multi-colored transgender pride flag. Beemyn says this and other pride flags provide a sense of belonging to those who are part of the group and give people who want to be allies to individuals in that group a way to show their support at a time when the U.S. is becoming increasingly polarized regarding trans issues. Much of the polarization, Beemyn says, “is preying on people’s ignorance and fears.”

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Select Publications

Fewer college students indicate they are nonbinary amid backlash

The Conversation

Genny Beemyn

2024-09-11

"The national backlash against trans and nonbinary young people may have led fewer nonbinary students to disclose their gender identity in their applications to college for this fall. That is according to my analysis of how students who applied to college through the Common App identified their gender. "

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College students are increasingly identifying beyond ‘she’ and ‘he’

The Conversation

Genny Beemyn

2022-08-22

"When students today fill out their college applications, they are not just identifying as “she” or “he.” More than 3% of incoming college students use a different set of pronouns. That’s according to my analysis of the more than 1.2 million applications submitted for the 2022-23 school year through the Common App, an online application platform used by more than 900 colleges."

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Legal fights persist over policies that require teachers to refer to trans students by their chosen pronouns

The Conversation

Genny Beemyn

2022-06-15

Genny Beemyn writes that "The right of trans students to be free from discrimination is tenuous at best and under constant legal attack."

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