International Transgender Day of Visibility, a celebration of the experiences of transgender people that looks to raise awareness for the issues they face, was on Sunday, and some LSU students took part in commemorating it.

Louisiana Trans Advocates at LSU is a student-led chapter of the statewide organization Louisiana Trans Advocates, which aims to uplift and champion transgender students. LTA at LSU was relaunched this semester after years of dormancy after the previous administration board graduated.

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Astrophysics graduate student Marz Newman is the secretary and co-founder of LTA at LSU. Newman revived the group to address issues facing transgender students such as unequal housing. Newman told the Reveille that gender-inclusive housing can minimize the isolation trans students face.

“There’s a lack of equality in housing,” Newman said. “Res Life has spoken for years about trying to expand the gender inclusive housing . . . but the fact that it’s been five years since, personally, I have heard of wanting to expand gender inclusive housing, it doesn’t give me a lot of hope or satisfaction in their responses.”

Transgender students have also found the process to change their name difficult. To be identified with the name they choose, students must change their name in several places, including on Moodle and in the Tiger Card Office. This is another issue that LTA at LSU hopes to address.

“It’s highly complicated,” Newman said. “You have to change your name in multiple different areas in order for it to come together as a full name change. It’s just more complicated than it needs to be.”

LTA at LSU also advocates to expand the healthcare services at the LSU Student Health Center to include transgender students, such as an endocrinologist who offers hormone replacement therapy, Newman said.

Partnering with The Student Organization for a Democratic Society at LSU and the Real Name Campaign, LTA at LSU held a “Transgender Day of Visibility and Vengeance” rally on April 1 from 1–3 p.m., featuring student speakers from all three organizations.

The event celebrated transgender people in hopes that increasing trans visibility will help foster a supportive community for them on campus. Newman emphasized how this community is important to cultivate at LSU.

“I think that the people who are organizing this event, we see that there’s a lot of disconnect in the trans community at LSU,” Newman said. “There was a gap in having a trans-specific organization for a few years, and I think a lot of people feel alone.”

At the rally, students socialized and played sports such as frisbee and football on the Parade Ground with the hopes of contradicting the message that transgender people cannot play sports. In 2022, Louisiana became the 18th state to ban trans athletes from playing on female school sports teams.

LTA at LSU also hoped to inform students about pending legislation that could impact transgender people in the state, including bills that would restrict teachers from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation in schools and require parent permission for a student to change their name or pronouns.

The bills are similar to those passed in 2023 by the GOP-dominated legislature but were vetoed by former Gov. John Bel Edwards. Current Gov. Jeff Landry is likely to sign such legislation.

“This is kind of déjà vu from last year,” Newman said. “These are the same bills. That’s kind of what got me motivated to pursue activism. Those bills really hit home for me. When I was in high school, I think without my teachers, I would have been a lot worse off without their support.”

Interested students can find out more information about the group on their Instagram page, @lta.at.lsu.

“There’s a lot of reasons why LSU students would feel alone, and I think that it’s important to have these event,” Newman said. “There’s got to be room for community and some sort of unification of queer people. I think that’s what is important about holding events like this.”