Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors the lives of members of the transgender community who are victims of violence.
The University’s Gender Outreach and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Alliance is hosting a speech and candlelight vigil in the EMU Gumwood Room at 7 p.m. today. The event will also feature an open mic session and a film, as well as signs for each person who died as a result of anti-transgender violence in the last year, according to Gender Outreach member Maceo Persson. Gender Outreach is a social support group for people who are transgender, gender variant or gender questioning, Persson said.
“I think it’s important to educate about oppression (and) transphobia,” he said. Persson added that many transgender people have expressed concerns about their safety or felt threatened.
Persson said there are social and institutional factors in place reinforcing the need for people to “police” people’s gender. For instance, social norms demand that people always be neatly categorized as either male or female.
“It’s really hard for people to get past that,” he said.
The day of remembrance was initiated after the brutal murder of William/Rita Hester of Boston in November, 1998. It is the second year that the day has been observed on campus.

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