Columbia City Council unanimously voted Monday to add gender identity to a list of categories protected from discrimination.

We unanimously applaud City Council.

We also ask, what took so long?

Protection of gender identity has been a relevant issue for years now throughout the rest of the country. Numerous state governments and universities throughout the country already have legislation in place, but Missouri is just catching up.

Although the City of Columbia has finally made it official, our university and the state government of Missouri have yet to reach this necessary milestone.

If our campus is planning to implement gender-neutral housing next year, it should push for official anti-discrimination protection of gender identity in the M-Book with the same tenacity.

As a university full of young, open-minded students we’re surprised the city of Columbia beat us to it. Although it didn’t pass, the city voted on it 10 years ago, and we have yet to take similar action, though discussion about including the protection clause has taken place. We do also recognize that we students do not have the final say — the UM System Board of Curators does, and it will have to pass the measure for the entire UM system.

Now is the time. We urge MSA to push with full force to ensure that this measure fights its way through all of the bureaucracy to the board.

This protection would officially give many students a right for all humanity, a right they should have officially had years ago.