U of S changes policy to protect transgender people

TheUniversity of Saskatchewan hasdecided to change the school's discrimination and harassment policy to protect transgender people.

The school's board voted Tuesdayto ban discrimination based on a person's genderidentity, two-spirit identity orgender expression.

It's awelcome change forU of S student Jack Saddleback, whohas been working to change the policy since last summer.

"You're going to be protected for who you areand you're going to be seen for who you are and celebrated for who you are,"Saddlebacksaid about the changes.

Saddleback was born a female, but now identifies as a Cree male who is two-spirited, a term sometimes used by LBGTFirst Nations people. He came out when he was 13, and saidhe has been dealing with complications surrounding his dual nature ever since.

"There's bathrooms, having your I.D. checked.I have had issues with my bank ... having someone look at my [card] and see under sex it says female, but my gender expression is quite masculine"Saddlebackexplained.

You're going to be protected for who you areand you're going to be seen for who you are,- Jack Saddleback

He and a group of like-minded peers and academics approached the University for support in October of 2013.

Barb Daigle, AssociateVice President of Human Resources, said she agreed to support Saddleback and his group in their mission to make policy changes from the start.

"For me, it was actually not a difficult thought process at all," Daigle said. "I am pretty passionate about creating positive work environments."

Saddlebacksaid the old policy only banned discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation, and that wasn't enough.

"There's our gender identity, what's between our ears. Our gender expression, that's how we express our gendermasculine, feminine. Our birth sex, that's what is between our legswhen we were born. And our attraction to, and that's our romantic attraction to other individuals," Saddleback explained."Those four things are all separate."