EDITORIAL: The Signal supports transgender rights

April 19, The Signal received a response to a letter to the editor by Josephine Tittsworth, UHCL alum and Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Scholars (TXTNS) executive director. Tittsworth’s letter regarding Greg Abbott’s recent directive about investigating parents providing their children gender-affirming medical care as child abuse was published in The Signal April 11. 

The response letter comes “with the support of Christian students on campus and the Ratio Christi group on campus.” In their letter, the students request that The Signal retract the “false claims” made in Tittsworth’s letter about the “radical religious right” and “misrepresented” references to biblical scripture. While Tittsworth’s letter includes her opinion of the recent directive, certain biblical scriptures and who is responsible for recent attacks on transgender rights, nothing in her letter is factually inaccurate.

As such, The Signal will not retract any part of the published letter because it represents the opinion of a UHCL community member. Moreover, the letter does not meet any of the criteria outlined in our unpublishing policy.

The students did not adhere to our letter policy in their submission. They exceeded the 500 word limit for a letter to the editor with 1,069 words and did not include their full names, majors and/or titles within the Ratio Christi organization.

Furthermore, their response to Tittsworth’s letter contains several factual inaccuracies about gender and biological sex while taking an authoritative stance on their interpretation of the Bible and the scriptures cited in Tittsworth’s letter. As such, it will not be published in The Signal because we do not publish things that are knowingly false.

However, even if the letter were under 500 words, included the names and affiliations of the students who signed it, and removed or corrected the factual inaccuracies about biological sex and gender, The Signal’s Editorial Board would not publish this letter to the editor. Per our letter policy, we reserve the right to refuse publication. 

The Signal supports transgender rights and will not publish any letters or contributions that contain anti-transgender sentiment. While The Signal welcomes and encourages letters from the UHCL community, this decision is in line with our mission to inform, educate and engage our audience without platforming hate toward groups or individuals on the basis of religion, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, race, color, ethnic or national origin, age, veteran status or disability. This is also in line with UHCL’s anti-discrimination policy. 

Sincerely,

The Signal Editorial Board:

Miles Shellshear, Editor-in-Chief

Troylon Griffin II, Managing Editor of Content & Operations

Cesar Cardenas, Staff Editor

Stephanie Perez, Audience Engagement Editor

Jessica Kunzat, Managing Editor – Outreach