WOMS Student Featured in SpartanDaily

Don’t miss the Spartan Daily article about Women’s Studies student Ari Eldridge, a terrific young transgender student who is enjoying her first year of college, appreciating the SJSU community, and helping educate others about transgender issues.

Ari Eldridge finds comfort in being a transgender student, but believes that too few students are knowledgeable about what transgender is.

“The definition of transgender has different meanings to people in the LGBT (lesbian gay, bisexual and transgender) community, but it means a person who does not identify one’s gender with one’s birth sex,” said Eldridge, whose male birth name no longer works for her.

Eldridge said she is assimilating at SJSU, and is enjoying her first year of college, which includes being a secretary for the transgender support group she is involved with at SJSU.
Though it was difficult for Eldridge to label herself as transgender to some friends and family, she said she is more confident because of it.

“SJSU is my safe space,” Eldridge said. “I feel more comfortable here then I ever did in my high school.”

She said that in high school, it was difficult for her to express herself, because there was not a specific group of people she identified with.

“I wasn’t a very social person,” Eldridge said.
She said high school was a challenge, but despite her insecurities, she tried to seek support groups. She said opening up to her friends and family was still not an easy task.

“In high school, there was a lot of self-suppression,” Eldridge said.” I told one of my friends and it was really hard for me to say it out loud.”

Eldridge said that when she was younger, she was quite feminine, but didn’t know that the word “transgender” existed.
“I’ve always felt different,” she said. “I had a girlfriend, but it felt like I was the more emotional one, like the female in the relationship. When she would call me handsome, I would tell her to call me pretty.”

Eldridge said the LGBT Resource Center helped her adjust to her new life as a student on campus, and that it’s comforting to know that there are people who understand her struggle, and what it means to be transgender.

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