EXCLUSIVE: UTD hosts tea party to celebrate reopening of Gender Center’s Life Transitioning Closet

The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) hosted a tea party in August to celebrate the re-opening of the Galerstein Gender Center’s Life Transitions Closet (LTC) after a summer of renovations.

UTD’s Gender Center gave out cookies, sandwiches, tea, and T-shirts to students at the event, according to photos obtained by Campus Reform.

“The mission of the Life Transitions Closet is to provide UT Dallas students and employees with the clothes, shoes, and accessories they need to navigate whatever life transitions they experience, including gender transitions, loss or gain of employment, pregnancy or birth, and more,” the website states. 

The LTC, which opened in 2019, accepts donations from other students, staff, and members of the community, including clothing, underwear, chest bindings, bras, bra inserts, makeup, and jewelry, the website says.

[RELATED: UPenn ‘gender conforming’ closet provides tucking tape to trans students]

The Galerstein Gender Center, under the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, states that its mission is to serve, “women, LGBTQ+ people and all communities facing oppression.” The Galerstein Gender Center offers scholarships, programs, lectures, and workshops.

The Galerstein Gender Center also provides personal lubricants, sanitary napkins, tampons, and sexuality pins. The gender center advertises for students to play video games and study. It also has an LGBTQ+ library with books on various gender and LGBTQ+ topics for children as young as infants. Some of the books included are Antiracist Baby, Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?, and The Gender Wheel: A Story about Bodies and Gender for Every Body.

[RELATED: Students are unable to define ‘woman,’ campus poll shows]

The center also supports “menstrual equity” across campus, referring to women as “menstruators.”  

College students are at high risk of developing psychological disorders, multiple studies have shown. About 44% of students have reported symptoms of depression with 15% considering taking their life, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Those who “transition” are 20 times more likely to commit suicide than those of their peers, according to The Heritage Foundation. About 82% of those who have transitioned have considered killing themselves, CNN reported in June about a population-level study out of Denmark. 

In March, Campus Reform reported that dozens of professors and doctors had signed a statement condemning laws restricting gender surgery and therapy for minors.

Campus Reform contacted the Galerstein Gender Center for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.