The University of Maryland SGA unanimously passed a bill Wednesday to allocate additional funds to the LGBTQ+ Equity Center for gender-affirming care items during the spring 2025 semester.
Under the bill, the Student Government Association will allocate more than $1,700 to meet the center’s projected demand. The bill continues a spring 2023 program where SGA allocated $1,500 to the equity center for gender-affirming care items, such as chest binders and TransTape.
After seeing continued interest in the program, SGA allocated $3,000 for this academic year, according to student body president Reese Artero.
But the equity center used nearly $2,400 of the total funding this semester alone, which left about $600 for the rest of the academic year, the senior criminology and criminal justice major said.
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Due to the center exhausting most of its allocated funds, SGA wanted to allocate more money to serve student needs, according to Chinaza Ofor, a co-director of the SGA’s diversity, equity and inclusion committee.
“We’re trying to continue the good work,” the junior philosophy, politics and economics major said. “It’s very paramount that us as a university, and us as a committee, prioritize students and make sure that they feel not only seen, but taken and accounted for.”
The funds will help the equity center provide services, including free chest binders and TransTape, to students who request them, Ofor said.
Artero emphasized that the equity center is an important part of this university. The goal of the additional funding is to ensure students have enough resources without worrying about the financial repercussions, she added.
Many students still rely on their parents’ insurance plans, which could prevent them from seeking the gender-affirming care they need, Artero said.
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The bill not only allocates more money to the equity center, but it also helps students feel more comfortable in accessing available resources, according to Leonard Fomin, the SGA’s speaker pro tempore and the behavioral and social sciences college representative.
“I think it’s really important to make sure that we’re inclusive of all students on campus [and] that we don’t leave any Terps behind,” the sophomore government and politics major said.
Fomin, a member of SGA’s health and wellness committee, also said he wants to ensure the bill reinforces the partnership with the equity center to show students that they can express concerns about the center to their legislatures.
Artero said she wants to reassess the equity center’s needs for the next academic year.
She thinks the center could require about $5,000 of funding next year based on its current needs.
“It’s a really vital part of making sure that everyone on campus feels they’re part of campus in their own way,” Artero said.
