The world recognizes Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day created in 1999 to honor the trans community on Nov. 20.
The LGBTQ Pride Center hosted a candlelight vigil, in which students gathered to not only honor the lives lost and mourn with one another, but memorialize community members as their true selves.
The night started off with crafting floral arrangements, which were brought to the vigil at Stafford Commons. Once there, several students shared their thoughts and feelings about the day through personal speeches and recollections.
Kit Cahill-Wiedenfeld, a second-year studying horticulture and president of T-files, a club under the umbrella of the LGBTQ Pride Center for trans and nonbinary students, read the poem “An Ode to Trans Bodies” by Cal Brantley.
Cahill-Wiedenfeld said the reason for choosing the poem by Brantley was to signify the message of trans bodies being accepted individually and socially.
“It just felt so close to home, and I think what really stuck with me was how they were talking about it’s really scary,” Cahill-Wiedenfeld said. “And I feel like a lot of people in America want us to feel scared. But we, it’s not our problem, and we shouldn’t feel scared. And it’s not a problem that people have with trans people, but it’s a problem that they have about themselves that I think that they take out on trans people because we’re new, and I think we represent a better society and a better future for the rest of the people that live here.”
The vigil continued with a reading of a list of names of 112 transgender individuals who passed away this year. Additional names were added afterwards by members present.
Jess Huynh, assistant director of the LGBTQ Pride Center, said in a speech that the list of individuals does not reflect the complete number of lives lost, as those mentioned are the ones we know of.
“We also want to acknowledge that this memorial to the 112 transgender, non-binary and gender nonconforming loved ones that we’ve lost in the past year is incomplete because society makes it hard to see your numbers and life and death,” Huynh said. “But just like stars in the daytime, we’re still here.”
Huynh said the day serves to not only mourn the lost, but to recognize the injustices towards the transgender community.
“The Trans Day of Remembrance is intended both to mourn and celebrate so much brilliance and joy and laughter and hope that we’ve lost to the wind,” Huynh said. “We’re here today to continue this tradition of memorializing our community members as their whole and true selves.”
After speeches and a minute of silence to honor the lives lost, students were invited to share their feelings and thoughts. Several themes revolved around self acceptance and the hope of a better future. One student shared they were glad to not be represented by one of the candles.
For Anna-Lukas Banas, a second-year studying psychology and women’s gender and sexuality studies, Transgender Day of Remembrance goes beyond grieving.
“Just us existing in the world as trans people is an act of resistance and an act of love, both for ourselves and for other people in our community,” Banas said. “That’s why it’s so important because we just have to remind one another constantly, as much as we possibly can, that we’re still here, and I’m glad that everyone is here. I’m glad that people wake up every day and make the choice to continue to be here despite of all of the hate that we face by just existing.”
Transgender Day of Remembrance also serves as a reminder to the community of the fight still ahead.
“We are still here, but we are still dying — and it’s still affecting us,” Cahill-Wiedenfeld said. “We still have to keep fighting against a lot of injustice.”
For more information about LGBTQ Pride Center events or T-files, visit its website.
