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Syracuse University’s LGBTQ Resource Center hosted a vigil Tuesday evening in observance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance. 

First conducted in 1999, the Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed annually among LGBTQ and transgender community in honor of all transgender people who were killed by anti-transgender violence. 

Around 10 attendees and five organizers were present at the vigil in the Killian Room of the Hall of Languages. 

The vigil started with a speech and introduction by Nia Williams and Jacob McGraw, peer educators of the STOP Bias and Hate Initiative. Williams and McGraw explained to the audience how to report bias-related incidents and provided resources available on campus to support transgender-identifying people. 

The organizers read the names and a brief biography of 44 transgender people who were killed by violence during the past year in the United States. The center collected the information from various sources, primarily from the Human Rights Campaign, said Jorge Castillo, the director of the LGBTQ Resource Center. 

“Because we want to honor their lives, we tend to do a lot of research and look for other information about them as people and what they (did) when they were alive. And not focus so much on the violence and the tragedy that took away their lives,” Castillo said.  

Not all transgender people who had been killed were identified accordingly because people killed may have been misgendered or not properly identified, Castillo said. 

Francis Tang| Asst. Copy Editor

The LGBTQ Resource Center has been hosting a series of events and workshops, such as the transgender affinity groups and Trans 101 workshops, to raise awareness among the campus community. Castillo said the center has been working closely with the Barnes Center at The Arch to ensure the health care is transgender-inclusive and that the providers are knowledgeable and ready to welcome transgender students. 

“The primary reason for (the vigil) is to honor,” Castillo said. “Both the lives of the people that were lost, (and) also a reminder that some of the most marginalized members of our LGBTQ community are still being murdered because of trans-antagonizing violence.”

The vigil concluded with a closed group discussion between transgender-identifying people.

Published on November 17, 2021 at 12:47 am

Contact Francis: btang05@syr.edu | @francis_towne