Portland State University Moves Beyond Male and Female

Students can now identify as agender, genderqueer or nonbinary.

By Beth Slovic

Portland State University students now have the option to choose among nine different genders when filling out school paperwork. They can also choose among nine different sexual orientations.

The expanded options grow out of 2015 legislation that asked all public universities in the state to allow students to disclose their sexual orientations so schools could share the information with the state's Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

Among the choices PSU students now have when disclosing their gender: agender; genderqueer; man; non-binary; questioning or unsure; trans man; trans woman; transgender; woman; or other.

Among the choices PSU students now have when disclosing their sexual orientation: asexual; bisexual; gay; heterosexual/straight; lesbian; pansexual; queer; questioning or unsure; same gender loving; or other.

The information is supposed to be confidential, but it's designed to help universities offer better services to students.

Universities are moving faster than the Oregon DMV to give people more options. Earlier this year, after a Multnomah County judge ruled that Portlander Jamie Shupe could legally identify as non-binary instead of male or female, the DMV said it would be months if not years before it gave Oregon drivers additional gender choices.

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