WABI interviews Vice President Dana, students about transgender rights at school
Several University of Maine students and Robert Dana, UMaine’s vice president for student life and dean of students, spoke with WABI (Channel 5) for the report, “Transgender rights at school sparking conversation.” According to the report, UMaine has taken measures on campus to make LGBT students feel comfortable. “The really cool thing that I like is just how happy everyone is and how they’re not afraid to go around and be themselves and do what makes them happy,” said Gill McGill, a UMaine student and president of Wilde Stein, a decades-old LGBT group on campus. “We’re here to make sure that everyone who identifies as LGBT or allied feels like they can be safe and they can express themselves without being harassed or feeling like they’re judged in any way,” McGill said. UMaine fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon now allows anyone who identifies as a male to join, and the university has more than a dozen gender neutral restrooms, the report states. “On a campus like this, we want it to be a warm, welcoming place for everybody, and the notion of making gender neutral bathrooms available, it seems like not too much to do to make it a warm place,” Dana said.