November 13-19 this year has been Trans Awareness Week. This week honors and celebrates the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities. In March of 2021, President Joe Biden signed an historic proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, recognizing the struggle, activism, and courage of trans*, transgender and gender non-binary people in the United States and around the world to live openly and authentically.
Trans Awareness Week culminates today, November 20, with a Trans Day of Remembrance vigil at 6:00 at the outdoor seal at Miami University. The annual TDOR honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost this year to acts of anti-transgender violence. All LGBTQIA+ community and affirming allies are welcome to attend.
Sadly, 2022 has already seen at least 32 transgender people fatally shot or killed by other violent means. The Human Rights Campaign says “at least” because too often these stories go unreported—or misreported. In previous years, the majority of these people were Black and Latinx transgender women. In 2021, the Campaign tracked a record number of violent fatal incidents against transgender and gender non-conforming people—with 50 fatalities tracked. These victims, like all people, are loving partners, parents, family members, friends and community members. They worked, went to school and attended houses of worship. They were real people—people who did not deserve to have their lives taken from them.
Social Justice Committee, HUUC 