The “T” in LGBTQ was emphasized Thursday night as several members of the Baton Rouge community gathered to remember transgender victims of violence associated with hate crimes.
The event was sponsored by Capital City Alliance, the LSU Women’s Center, student organization Spectrum, the LSU Safe Space Campaign and the Metropolitan Community Church. Several people spoke, prayed and observed a moment of silence in remembrance of those who have passed away.
Kat Barry, president of Spectrum, an LGBTQ organization on campus, said the Transgender Day of Remembrance is celebrated internationally.
Barry explained that a transgender person is a someone who identifies with a gender other than their biological one.
She said it was a question she had to answer several times when she sat at a table in Free Speech Plaza earlier Thursday to publicize the event.
Barry said Spectrum also used the table to publicize a petition the group has started for more trans-inclusive laws, which she said would specifically list transgender people in the groups protected from hate crimes.
Barry said 40 to 50 people signed the petition at the table Thursday and even more signed it at the event.
Melanie Stapleton, music education freshman and Spectrum member, said she has been encouraged by the groups and people on campus that advocate LGBTQ rights.
“It’s important to know that people care,” Stapleton said. “You do matter.”
Stapleton said she became especially emotional at the event when attendees stood up and read the names and ages of people who have been killed by hate crime violence in the past year.
“It really hits you,” she said. “They have a name. They’re a real person.”
Stapleton also said she was upset by the ages of some of the victims because some were even younger than her.
Barry said she was not offended by questions asked at the table in Free Speech Plaza because sexuality isn’t a very publicized topic.
“People see a rainbow flag and they automatically think ‘gay,'” Barry said. “People just aren’t familiar with this.”
Barry said she was happy to see so many people interested in the event and the topic of transgender people.
“If this is the first time they ever hear the word ‘transgender,’ I’m OK with that,” she said.
Bruce Parker, a Safe Space coordinator in the Office of Multicultural Affairs and a faculty adviser to Spectrum, was one of the speakers at the event.
Parker said he has been advocating for transgender rights for much of his life, and the part of the event he liked the most was when victims’ names were read aloud.
“A lot of them are unknown,” Parker said. “It’s about remembering people who may not be remembered otherwise.”
He said he has trouble controlling his emotions when he hears about the victims.
“It’s so hard. All these folks died just because of who they are,” Parker said.
Parker said he knows of 16 transgender people on campus and believes there are more.
“Transgender people are here at LSU, and they need resources,” he said.
Stapleton said she likes events like Transgender Day of Remembrance because it informs the public.
“People need to know there are transgender people out there,” she said.
Stapleton said she hopes events like Transgender Day of Remembrance will make a difference in the way people view transgender people.
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]