University News
Trans* Awareness Week
November 16, 2020
MACOMB, IL -- The LGBT*QA Resource Center at Western Illinois University is hosting a variety of activities Nov. 16-20 to celebrate Trans* Awareness Week.
According to Kairo Scott, graduate assistant at the LGBT*QA Resource Center, the purpose of Transgender Awareness Week is to educate about transgender and gender non-conforming people and the issues associated with their transition or identity.
Trans* Awareness Week is annually observed by the LGBT*QA Resource Center and nationally the second week of November leading up to Trans* Day of Remembrance. This year, a candlelight vigil will be held at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20 in the Multicultural Center on the Macomb campus.
"The vigil remembers trans* individuals who have been murdered in 2020 and serves as an awareness raising memorial to the disproportionate level of violence against Black transwomen," said Scott added. "We mourn the lives lost to meaningless violence and raise a call for non-trans* individuals to reflect upon the reality that we are your children, spouses, teachers and friends."
During the event, the names of each trans* person killed this year will be read aloud and a candle lit for the memory of each as a symbol of lighting their way in the dark.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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