The Q Center held a candlelight vigil to commemorate Trans Day of Remembrance. Observed on Nov. 20, the day was founded in 1999 by activists Gwendolyn Ann Smith, Nancy Nangeroni and Jahaira DeAlto to honor the lives of transgender people who lost their lives from acts of transphobic violence.

Vigil organizers discussed how the murders of Rita Hester and Chanelle Pickett, two Black transgender women living in Massachusetts, motivated those activists to create the day of remembrance. They also shared statistical information about those who lost their lives in the past year. According to Advocates for Trans Equality, there were 27 known transgender and nonbinary people who died from violence since November 2024, with 63 percent of them being Black transgender women. Twenty-one individuals lost their lives to suicide, while another eight passed away from natural causes. The name of each individual was read aloud to honor them.

Students painted stones with the names of all 58 known transgender individuals who lost their lives since last November. A 59th stone was left blank to honor those whose deaths have gone unreported.

The stones were placed by the Pegasus statue in front of the Library Tower, where they are expected to remain for the rest of the semester. A candlelight vigil followed with a moment of silence to honor the memories of those who died.

“Trans people are the backbone of the Queer community, and the state of Queer rights and Queer culture would be vastly different — on an international level — without their presence and involvement, a fact evident upon any basic examination of human history,” Grace Johnston, vice president of Rainbow Pride Union and a sophomore double-majoring in French and art history, wrote in a statement to Pipe Dream. “Recognizing not only the importance, but the very existence, of the trans community is even more crucial now more than ever, with LGBTQIA+ rights (trans rights, in particular) under constant threat from authoritarian actors within the U.S. government.”

The Trump administration has pursued several policies that directly affect members of the transgender community. President Donald Trump reversed two State Department rules allowing individuals to choose a gender marker on passports different from their sex assigned at birth, a policy decision the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld despite LGBTQ+ advocates arguing it was unconstitutional.

In February, Trump signed an executive order mandating schools and sports governing organizations to ban transgender women and girls from competing with their cisgender counterparts. The Supreme Court is expected to hear two cases next January over whether state laws that prohibit transgender women and girls from playing on teams that correspond with their gender identity are unconstitutional.

The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a new rule to ban federal Medicaid reimbursement for gender affirming healthcare given to transgender minors below the age of 18. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that state laws restricting access by transgender youth to hormonal treatments were not unconstitutional.

Since 2017, November has been designated Transgender Awareness Month. As part of this occasion, the Q Center organized events this month that spotlighted transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming voices while calling attention to the discrimination each community faces. On Nov. 13, Jamison Green, a transgender activist and author, visited Binghamton University for a discussion [HYPERLINK: jamison green article] that touched on topics like gender identity and the history of queer rights and advocacy.

“One of the final signature events hosted by the Q Center for Transgender Awareness Month is always the more somber Trans Day of Remembrance Vigil,” Nick Martin, associate director of the Q Center, wrote to Pipe Dream. “While we aim to focus many of the events throughout the month around trans joy and affirmation, TDoR is an important day for allies, advocates, and accomplices of the trans community to know about and fully understand. TDoR is the necessary reminder that too many trans lives, especially the lives of trans women of color, are lost to violence and suicide because of the ongoing vitriol unjustly spewed at the trans community by systems of oppression, including the government, workplaces, healthcare providers, and many others.”

Transgender and gender-nonconforming students have access to various resources on campus. The Q Center, located in the Glenn G. Bartle Library basement, has a Gender Bender closet where people can pick up different clothes, shoes and accessories. Aiming to create a safe space for all students, the Q Center is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the academic year.

Anna Call, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, explained the importance of the annual observation.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance means a great deal to me as a trans person,” Call told Pipe Dream in a statement. “It’s a day to remember those who have lost their lives due to anti-transgender violence. It is a terrifying time living in the U.S. with so much hatred and violence directed towards a community of people who just want to live in peace as their truest selves.”

“By looking back and remembering those we have lost, we can continue forward, fighting for justice and trans rights,” she continued.