[Special Feature: Looking Toward CGS's 10th Anniversary]
Akiru IIDA
ICU graduate (ID 04)
[The article below is the same as the article that appears in the sixteenth issue of the CGS Newsletter.]
In 2003 ICU granted students with gender dysphoria the right to change their name and gender on their school records. This breakthrough is largely attributed to Akiru Iida, the student who first called for this change. Akiru shares his experience with an important message for current and future ICU students.
It was in Professor Kazuko Tanaka's class that I first learned of the Human Rights Committee at ICU, which deals with all forms of discrimination at university. I asked offhandedly at the time, "Will they help even in cases where the discriminator is society or the system?" But Professor Tanaka listened seriously to my case and appealed to the university on my behalf. One year later, in the winter term of my fourth year, I was finally able to change the name and gender listed on my school records. I was to graduate in a few months, but the fact that I could use my preferred name and be my preferred gender (male) for even a small part of my university years was absolute bliss. Based on these university records, the technical college I subsequently attended also permitted me to enroll as a man, even though there had been no such precedent. ICU's acknowledgement of my preferred name was also the deciding factor that facilitated the official name change on my family registry.
Frankly, I had not expected anything from society or the university. I had simply regarded my own pain and suffering as selfish, thinking only about how I could survive by suppressing these selfish desires. However, Professor Tanaka taught me to see another option̶ society can change, indeed, society can be changed.
I've heard that ICU has further improved its school records system, which is benefiting students today. If you are in pain, I encourage you to speak out. Would it ease your suffering if the university changed? If society changed? It's okay to try to change society just for yourself. Actually there are others who feel like you do. It would definitely help those people, too. Don't worry, you are not alone. I hope we can all work toward improving quality of life for all, LGBTs included.