Navigating Identity and Politics as Trans Gender and Sexuality Center Professionals

Gender and Sexuality Center (GSC) professionals experience marginalization in their work and identities and therefore develop strategies to resist this continued marginalization. Using interview data with 13 trans GSC professionals, we explored how trans leaders experience identity and institutional environments working within college and university GSC spaces. We viewed participants' experiences through critical conceptual frameworks of compulsory heterogenderism and the traditionally heterogendered institution. The research illustrates how trans-identified GSC leaders resist bureaucratic systems in their praxis, navigate their identity, and work within genderist institutional climates. Findings reveal important implications for how trans leaders find support in their work, noting frequent experiences of compulsory heterogenderism and genderist assumptions about their identity and work within college and university GSC spaces. Implications for research uncover a continued need for deeper exploration of trans experiences in higher education to advance equitable working environments for these higher education leaders.