Women-only Barnard College in New York votes to allow trans applicants

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An all women’s college in the US state of New York on Thursday announced that it will begin admitting transgender women.

Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia University, said on Thursday that its board voted to consider the measure to allow trans women.

The choice means the college now admits applications who “consistently live and identify as women, regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth.”

There is a while until the change will take effect, however, and will go into motion for applicants for autumn 2016.

Previously, Barnard College did not have an official policy on trans applicants.

After consulting students across its campus, a statement from the college read: “There was no question that Barnard must reaffirm its mission as a college for women. And there was little debate that trans women should be eligible for admission to Barnard.”

A number of all women’s colleges across the US have recently voted to approve similar measures.