Tomorrow, November 20th, 2020, is Trans Day of Remembrance. This day is observed annually as a day to celebrate the lives of those ended due to anti-trans violence.
Yesterday, during a program for Trans Awareness Week hosted by the Pride Resource Center, a group of individuals zoom bombed folks in the event spewing racial and transphobic slurs. The SDC stands in solidarity with the Pride Resource Center and those participating in the event last night. Imagining Trans Futures Panel was designed as a space to center Trans lives, Trans futures, and Trans joy, and this hateful action only solidified the need for Trans Awareness Week and Trans Day of Remembrance. We would like to encourage you to connect with Pride’s Instagram to learn more about events that have happened this week for, their statement regarding the event last night, and the Trans Day of Remembrance Ceremony tomorrow at 12PM.
The following message is from the Pride Resource Center about last night’s event:
Tonight during our Imagining Trans Futures Panel, during Trans Awareness Week and two days before Trans Day of Remembrance, our panelist event was zoom bombed. We had a small group of people intentionally join our event that centered Trans lives, Trans futures, and Trans joy to specifically spew racial and transphobic slurs to our panelists and participants.
We want to acknowledge how scary, threatening, and angering this was for us, for our panelists, for our students, and for our community members. Not only was it shocking, but it was particularly impactful for this to have happened for this specific event, the only event throughout our last 9 months of online content. It proved the need for Trans Awareness Week, Trans Day of Remembrance and Visibility, for the work we do in the Pride Resource Center and throughout Student Diversity Programs & Services, for ongoing activism for Trans lives, particularly Black Trans lives, and Trans rights. We are angry, and we are ready to keep going.
Though shaken, we paused and restarted our event. We took a breath, and we continued. We are grateful for the strength of our panelists, our staff, and those who returned back to the meeting after this happened. Trans people have always and will continue to show up in spaces we are told we are not welcomed, in spaces we create for ourselves to celebrate, in spaces in which we are met with violence and threats. We come together to assert our humanity and that we deserve joy, community, happiness, and healing. We want to be clear about that now, tonight, and every day. We will keep coming together to do so – to center Trans lives, Trans beauty, Trans thriving, Trans futures. So for those who were impacted tonight – we are still here. We are with you and ready to process as needed through our office hours and the specific time we’re setting aside tomorrow to debrief (email pedro.ramos@colostate.edu to join).
With Pride,
The Pride Resource Center staff
