BY DAVID OLSON STAFF WRITER dolson@pe.com
Published: 28 October 2011 08:17 PM
EDITED BY: I, Praetorian, October 30, 2011
Domaine Javier, 24; stated that Cal Baptist University officials told her she was expelled for falsely claiming on her application form that she is a female. Javier revealed on MTV’s “True Life” that she is biologically male.
Letters the university sent to Javier say she was expelled for “committing or attempting to engage in fraud, or concealing identity,” and for presenting false or misleading information in university judicial processes.
However, Javier, 24, said she has identified herself as female since she was a toddler and correctly clicked the space next to “female” on the online application form.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “They said, ‘On your application form you put ‘female.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s how I see myself.’”
Javier’s expulsion was finalized on Aug. 30, the week before she was scheduled to begin a nursing program at Cal Baptist after transferring from Riverside City College.
In an emailed statement, university spokesman Mark Wyatt wrote, “California Baptist University does not comment on student disciplinary matters or other confidential student information.”
California law prohibits employment, housing, government, insurance and other types of discrimination based upon gender identity. But private universities generally are not covered by the law, said Mark Wood, an attorney with the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center. The center is not aware of other transgender college students who were expelled.
Transgender refers to people whose gender identity differs from the biological sex they were born with. Some transgender people undergo sex-change operations; others do not.
Javier said university officials told her during expulsion hearings that they discovered her MTV appearance through a background check (Bullshit). They did not say whether that is how they discovered her gender identity, she said.
Javier was on an April episode of “True Life” entitled “I’m Passing as Someone I’m Not.” Cameras showed a man hitting on Javier while she danced at Riverside’s Club Sevilla in a low-cut pink and black dress and putting on make-up in the club’s bathroom. Javier said she only revealed her gender identity to family members.
“I am a girl trapped in a guy’s body,” Javier said on the show.
“When I’m out on a date, the loneliness goes away,” Javier said during a segment of her on one of her dates with a man who cut off the relationship after she told him she is transgender.
She said she applied to appear on the show to raise awareness on transgender issues and let other transgender people know that they’re not alone.
Javier said she was impressed with the nursing program at Cal Baptist, which is three blocks from her Riverside home. A university financial aid form shows she received a $3,500 dean’s academic scholarship. Javier said she was shocked when in July she received a letter that temporarily expelled her, pending hearings.
“I was devastated, because I really, really wanted to attend this campus,” she said.
Javier said the expulsion, that was finalized days before classes were set to begin, will delay her graduation from a nursing program by at least a year. She said she declined an admission offer by Cal State San Bernardino – that as a public university cannot discriminate against transgender students – to attend Cal Baptist.
Javier is back at Riverside City College but said she cannot enter the nursing program until next fall.
“This totally ruined my career path,” she said. “I’ve been trying to finish as soon as possible.”
Javier said she knew the university is a religious institution but did not realize it is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the most conservative major Baptist denomination.
“I didn’t know they were that extreme,” said Javier, who attended Catholic schools in her native Philippines before immigrating to California eight years ago.
Cal Baptist’s written policies do not explicitly bar transgender students. But it has generally socially conservative rules, including a prohibition of social dances on university property and a requirement that applicants sign a form agreeing not to engage in homosexual behavior or to cohabit with someone of the opposite sex.
Despite the expulsion, Javier doesn’t regret her MTV appearance. She is buoyed by the support and positive comments she has received from about 200 people, most of them straight, through chats on the street or on Facebook.
“I’m a happier person now,” she said.
Published: 28 October 2011 08:17 PM
EDITED BY: I, Praetorian, October 30, 2011
Domaine Javier, 24; stated that Cal Baptist University officials told her she was expelled for falsely claiming on her application form that she is a female. Javier revealed on MTV’s “True Life” that she is biologically male.
Letters the university sent to Javier say she was expelled for “committing or attempting to engage in fraud, or concealing identity,” and for presenting false or misleading information in university judicial processes.
However, Javier, 24, said she has identified herself as female since she was a toddler and correctly clicked the space next to “female” on the online application form.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “They said, ‘On your application form you put ‘female.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s how I see myself.’”
Javier’s expulsion was finalized on Aug. 30, the week before she was scheduled to begin a nursing program at Cal Baptist after transferring from Riverside City College.
In an emailed statement, university spokesman Mark Wyatt wrote, “California Baptist University does not comment on student disciplinary matters or other confidential student information.”
California law prohibits employment, housing, government, insurance and other types of discrimination based upon gender identity. But private universities generally are not covered by the law, said Mark Wood, an attorney with the San Francisco-based Transgender Law Center. The center is not aware of other transgender college students who were expelled.
Transgender refers to people whose gender identity differs from the biological sex they were born with. Some transgender people undergo sex-change operations; others do not.
Javier said university officials told her during expulsion hearings that they discovered her MTV appearance through a background check (Bullshit). They did not say whether that is how they discovered her gender identity, she said.
Javier was on an April episode of “True Life” entitled “I’m Passing as Someone I’m Not.” Cameras showed a man hitting on Javier while she danced at Riverside’s Club Sevilla in a low-cut pink and black dress and putting on make-up in the club’s bathroom. Javier said she only revealed her gender identity to family members.
“I am a girl trapped in a guy’s body,” Javier said on the show.
“When I’m out on a date, the loneliness goes away,” Javier said during a segment of her on one of her dates with a man who cut off the relationship after she told him she is transgender.
She said she applied to appear on the show to raise awareness on transgender issues and let other transgender people know that they’re not alone.
Javier said she was impressed with the nursing program at Cal Baptist, which is three blocks from her Riverside home. A university financial aid form shows she received a $3,500 dean’s academic scholarship. Javier said she was shocked when in July she received a letter that temporarily expelled her, pending hearings.
“I was devastated, because I really, really wanted to attend this campus,” she said.
Javier said the expulsion, that was finalized days before classes were set to begin, will delay her graduation from a nursing program by at least a year. She said she declined an admission offer by Cal State San Bernardino – that as a public university cannot discriminate against transgender students – to attend Cal Baptist.
Javier is back at Riverside City College but said she cannot enter the nursing program until next fall.
“This totally ruined my career path,” she said. “I’ve been trying to finish as soon as possible.”
Javier said she knew the university is a religious institution but did not realize it is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, the most conservative major Baptist denomination.
“I didn’t know they were that extreme,” said Javier, who attended Catholic schools in her native Philippines before immigrating to California eight years ago.
Cal Baptist’s written policies do not explicitly bar transgender students. But it has generally socially conservative rules, including a prohibition of social dances on university property and a requirement that applicants sign a form agreeing not to engage in homosexual behavior or to cohabit with someone of the opposite sex.
Despite the expulsion, Javier doesn’t regret her MTV appearance. She is buoyed by the support and positive comments she has received from about 200 people, most of them straight, through chats on the street or on Facebook.
“I’m a happier person now,” she said.
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