December 9, 2013
Every year in November, we celebrate Trans* Awareness Week on campus. During this week, student organizations and the Spectrum Center put on programming that raises awareness, celebrates, and honors trans* identities and experiences.
This year, we were happy to have a wide range of events: educational, reflective, and social. On the educational side, the Spectrum Center and the Michigan Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) collaborated to put on a panel event about masculinity, gender identity, and mental health, to observe the overlap Trans* Awareness Week has with Men’s Mental Health Month. A student organization, OutBreak, also sent out an educational e-series about Transgender Health Issues. In additional, the LGBT Issues Commission of the Central Student Government hosted their general meeting, and had a guest speaker talk about Trans* Healthcare.
Trans* Awareness Week also serves as a time to reflect on experiences, both positive and negative, and to honor those lives the community has lost. This year, in honor of International Transgender Day of Remembrance, there were two Remembrance Ceremonies on campus, one hosted by the Spectrum Center, and the other by Informational Across the Spectrum (the School of Information LGBTQ student group). These ceremonies honored the lives of transgender people who were killed due to anti-trans violence. The Spectrum Center’s ceremony featured two community speakers, whose words you can read here. The next evening, the student organization TransForm hosted a community Speak Out, where people were invited to share their life experiences in an open, safe forum.
While Trans* Awareness Week is a good time for education and reflection, it is also a time to celebrate! The Spectrum Center hosted a “Celebrate Trans* Identity” day in our office, where we made buttons, ate snacks, and watched a movie.
It was great to see such a wide range of events during TAW this year, and to celebrate, reflect, mourn, share, and learn with the campus community.