The Campus Center basement bathrooms were gender neutralized for the second year in a row in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance. Both bathroom doors were covered with fliers depicting symbols for various genders in order to appear non-gender specific. Anti-transphobic sayings, obituary snippets and student artwork adorned the bathroom walls. The installation lasted from Nov. 19 to Nov. 21.
The day was established on Nov. 20 to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Thirty-seven murders motivated by transphobia have been documented since the beginning of the year. The majority of these reported deaths have been of transwomen of color.
“Frank [Marsilli, the Campus Center director] expected my request,” said Zach Strassburger ’06. “He easily granted us permission to have the art installation up Wednesday through Friday, whereas last year we were only allowed to have it up for one day.”
Marsilli said he welcomed the opportunity to have the installation put up again.
“I thought it was very enlightening,” Marsilli said. “It makes you think how society more or less forces us to choose a gender. [The installation] made you wonder if it should be such a clear dichotomy. That was the most powerful part of it.”
This year’s day of remembrance incorporated a variety of activities in addition to the bathroom art installation, which was started last fall. A Vespers Trans Remembrance Day Memorial service, discussions on the intersections of race, class and gender and on the politics of scholar Judith Butler, and a screening of Trans short films were held during the three-day period.
According to Strassburger, these events were the first non- “Gender 101” workshops ever advertised and open to the entire campus instead of just being within-group discussions.
“There was still a lot of work to do at the end, but we were able to really fill the bathrooms with art to the extent we wanted to,” Strassburger said. “Finally, it meant that while some people were still shocked and confused, a lot of people were like ‘oh, yeah, I remember this from last year, cool.’ That showed that some people are at least aware of trans stuff at Wesleyan; that’s a start.”
The Trans/Gender group began planning for the Day of Remembrance in mid-October. Group members sent out emails to listserves and contributed to putting the art installation together. Individuals walking by as the exhibit was being constructed, joined in, which, according to Strassburger, happened last year as well.
“I know there were negative reactions out there,” said Paige Kruza ’07. “I definitely received positive ones. It was a really good experience for me, and I was not the only one [working on the events]. It gave me the opportunity to incorporate art work and to put a more positive spin on what we were working on.”
The day of remembrance was first recognized in 1998. It is held in November to remember Rita Hester who was murdered because of her gender identity and whose case, like many others, remains unsolved.
Under the transgender label are persons who identify as a transsexual, crossdresser, genderqueer or otherwise gender variant.
The Trans/Gender group is an activist group, open to all students, that works on trans and gender-variant issues on campus. The group meets at 10:30 p.m. every Sunday in the Queer Resource Center on the second floor of the WSA.
Leave a Reply