Photo by Makyla Seeger
By Lauryn Longacre, Staff Writer
Students and faculty gathered around the Douglas E. Arthur Plaza Fountain on Nov. 20 at noon as they commemorated transgender victims of violence from around the world for Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Susquehanna held the ceremony in remembrance of those murdered due to transphobia and to call attention to the iolence transgender individuals continue to endure.
Senior and president of Gender and Sexuality Alliance Anna McDermott was the first speaker at the ceremony and went over the number of deaths of transgender people in various countries.
“Of the 31 countries where data was collected from, Brazil had the most deaths with 148, Mexico had the second largest number of killings at 61 and the United States came in third with 37 murders,” she said. “That is 14 more than last year.”
McDermott said that out of the 331 reported murders, 38 were under the age of 21. There were three 15-year-olds, an 18-year-old and 112 unknown ages.
McDermott also mentioned the importance of remembering those whose deaths were concealed or went unreported.
McDermott then handed the podium over to sophomore Theo Klinger. Klinger recounted the time he came out, and the violent environment that surrounded him afterwards. He mentioned how despite therapy and medication, nothing would ever change who he was.
“We are trans and non-binary but that does not mean we’re not human beings, we bleed, we feel, and we deserve to have a chance at life.” Klinger said. “The more you may beat us the more we will pick ourselves back up, we’re not going anywhere.”
He then closed his speech with a poem by transgender poet Joshua Jennifer Espinoza.
The next speaker was sophomore Em Curtis who brought attention to Susquehanna’s negligence on transgender issues. They mentioned how a friend of theirs were misgendered by the Susquehanna Counseling Center by both the receptionist and the counselor.
Curtis also mentioned thatSusquehanna continues to use dead names, or names assigned at birth that have since been changed and the lack of action towards professors who are known to be transphobic.
“Susquehanna needs to listen to trans students when we say, ‘this professor refuses to use my name and pronouns’ or ‘this professor told me I’m not really trans’,” Curtis said. “Susquehanna University needs to be a safe space for trans students.”
Curtis also closed their speech with a poem by Espinoza.
Sophomore Anna Matthews followed Curtis with issues regarding Susquehanna’s treatment of transgender and nonbinary students. They spoke on some professors’ carelessness of using improper pronouns when addressing them.
“I’m sick and tired of you ‘trying’,” they said, “you just need to bite your tongue and throw your ignorance out the window.”
Activist in residence Peterson Toscano then read aloud the names of 331 victims of transphobic murder from around the world. Toscano highlighted the importance of each name as “these people choose their own names and lived by their own terms.” The reading of the names took over 20 minutes to complete, as each name received a ring of a bell by Chaplain Scott Kershner.
There were 51 unknown names on the list, and for each unknown name read a flower was pulled from a vase and laid on the center of the fountain by an attendee.