The GLBT Center will observe Transgender Awareness Week from Tuesday, November 13 through Monday, November 19, 2018. The impetus for this week of events is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a global, annual observance for transgender individuals who were murdered over the past year.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial Sculpture will be on display in the GLBT Center all week. Please visit us in Talley Student Union, Suite 5230 to pay your respects to those our community has lost. On the evening of November 19, 2018, the GLBT Center and T-Files, a transgender peer support group, will observe Transgender Day of Remembrance at 5:00 p.m. in Talley Student Union, Room 3285. While the event will include a reading of the names and stories of those taken from us, we will also reflect on the intersecting violence of transphobia, racism, classism, xenophobia, ableism and other forms of oppression. In preparation for Transgender Day of Remembrance, the GLBT Center will paint the Free Expression Tunnel on Sunday, November 18, 2018 starting at 6:00 p.m.
The theme of this year’s Transgender Awareness Week is “Honoring the Intersections” and will kick off on Tuesday, November 13, 2018 with a film screening and discussion of MAJOR! in Talley Student Union, Room 4101. The film explores the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcerated Black transgender elder and activist who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years. Miss Major is a veteran of the Stonewall Rebellion and a survivor of Attica State Prison, a former sex worker, an elder, a community leader and human rights activist. She is simply “Mama” to many in her community. Her personal story and activism for transgender civil rights intersect LGBT struggles for justice and equality from the 1960s to today. At the center of her activism is her fierce advocacy for her girls, trans women of color who have survived police brutality and incarceration in men’s jails and prisons.
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 the GLBT Center will facilitate an exploration of the politics of transgender healthcare. From 6:00-7:30 p.m. in Talley Student Union, Room 3285, participants will learn about how primary healthcare, insurance, legislation and policymakers impact the well-being of transgender patients. Participants will learn about the World Professional Association of Transgender Healthcare (WPATH) and how it plays into healthcare policies in the U.S.
On Friday, November 16, 2018, the GLBT Center will host a workshop on “Cultural Values about Gender and Violence in the Trans Community,” an in-depth exploration of how our cultural values impact the transgender community, and seek to answer the questions: How does the cultural environment in which we all participate perpetuate bias against the transgender community? How does this pervasive bias, conscious or unconscious, impact the lives of transgender, genderqueer, agender and gender-questioning people? This workshop will create a space where participants can explore the role of cultural values and their own role in creating or envisioning those values. This workshop is open to NC State undergraduates, graduate students, staff, faculty and alumni as well as interested members of the local community. Register for this or other workshops and learn more about the GLBT Advocate Program.
Andy DeRoin is the program coordinator for the GLBT Center.