With new focus in the media on transgenderism like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox, many students and young people are less pressured to be someone they are not.

Recent legislation in Minnesota about transgender athletes also sheds new light on the once taboo subject. This raises new questions in transgenders everywhere from where to live to where they go to the bathroom.

The focus comes to Southwest Minnesota State University with the arrival of its first transgender student. Ben Kifer, a junior education major transfer student, was worried that he was not going to be able to live on campus at the beginning of the year.

“Thankfully I qualified to be able to move into foundation residence apartments which is not gendered,” Kifer said.

People often wonder where they are going to live with the residence halls being separated by gender floor-by-floor (except in Sweetland Hall and gender specific houses). Students select the community hall they live in such as a living-learning community, Sweetland Hall, or the apartments.

Residence life tries hard to place students in their preferred house. Otherwise, students go to any other residence hall across the campus. Transgendered students face a different set of challenges by being physically one gender and psychologically being another.

“Right now we do not have a policy,” Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Scott Crowell said. “[The transgender student] went to a place where they wished to go. They are rooming with individuals that they are friends with. There wasn’t really any determination as to whether they go to an all-male house or an all-female house. The current situation just happened to fall into place.”

Were this situation was to come up again, Crowell said that he would decide at the time.

“As far as I can tell, no one has discriminated on me,” Kifer said about SMSU students.

The hard thing about people who hear about the topic of transgendered people is that some people are going to be uncomfortable with the situation. While no discrimination has occurred and the GLBTA club has gained support here, one could wonder how they would act in a position like this.

“We would have conversations,” Crowell said on the subject. “I would probably call the student in to see what the situation might be and what the problems might be at the current time to try to work things out.”

“I would probably get my room changed,” Kifer said when asked what he would do if someone were uncomfortable. “I’m just as uncomfortable with someone who’s against transgendered people as they are against me.”

All the media attention on transgenderism has begun to creep into small-town Marshall, causing people to decide how to act and forcing policy changes to be brought up. This is a huge step for the LGBT community and will probably continue growing in the years to come.