Dear Members of the Campus Community,

November 13-19 is Trans Awareness Week. This week leads up to Trans Day of Resilience (also historically and currently known as Transgender Day of Remembrance) on November 20, a day to mourn the trans lives lost to transphobic violence, honor the lives of trans people currently living, and uplift trans resistance and power.

2021 was one of the deadliest years for trans communities to date, with at least 45 recorded murders against trans people in the United States alone. Trans women of color, especially Black trans women, are disproportionately murdered, as they are affected by the harmful intersections of racism and transmisogyny.

We invite you this week to reflect on how we can support trans community members and to further trans liberation. From November 15-22, our office will have a Trans Day of Resilience table displayed in front of Diversions Cafe. Our event “A Conversation on Queer Indigenous Writers, Artists, and Activists" with Dr. Lisa Tatonetti is on Wednesday, November 17 at noon, and will focus on Two-Spirit and Queer Indigenous literature and activism. (Although trans and two-spirit identities are not synonymous identities given cultural and colonial contexts, racist gender-based violence also disproportionately impacts Two-Spirit community members.) We are also hosting a Trans Day of Resilience event on November 19 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. for LGBTQ+ campus community members in the Social Justice Center. Additionally, there are local community events on November 20, such as the Lavender Rights Project, Black Trans Task Force, and Traction’s Trans Day of Remembrance 2021 Community Vigil, and the Diversity Alliance of the Puget Sound’s Trans Day of Remembrance Memoriam Program and Candlelight Vigil.

To further your awareness and commitment to trans lives, please check out The Trans Day of Resilience page to view pieces created by trans artists, calls to action, and articles that prompt us to do better and fight for trans justice as well as this essay discussing the intersection of activism and art in the Trans movement. And this week, as with all weeks, we honor that it is important to celebrate the ways trans communities love, fight for one another, and impact our world for the better.

Sincerely,

Lorna
Lorna Hernandez Jarvis, Ph.D. (She, Her, Hers)
Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity