On Nov. 20, many groups across Augustana College’s campus remembered the lives of gender-diverse individuals lost on Transgender Remembrance Day. Augustana’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), Omicron Sigma Omicron (OZO) and Iota Iota Iota (Triota) came together to hold a Transgender Remembrance Day banquet.
Students gathered in Gavle 2 from 6-8 p.m. to remember and celebrate the lives of transgender people while enjoying dinner.
Junior Amber Olson, president of GSA, said that an event like this hadn’t been held in several years, and GSA wanted to bring it back. Olson said the event was held to bring awareness about this difficult day.
“I want to be able to be an activist. Somebody who is able to speak out for my community and about the issues we face and [to] be somebody who can spread awareness and to be able to put this on, it was difficult obviously,” Olson said. “It is a difficult topic to talk about, but it feels good knowing that we have made an impact on people.”
The night began with speeches by members of GSA, OZO and Triota. The speeches were filled with personal stories and words of encouragement for the crowd of students.
“In general, in life, we just need more love and more respect and more common decency,” sophomore Em Dornbusch, event attendee, said. “I think we’re all in this life together and it’s really not that deep if someone wants to be called different pronouns, it’s that simple.”
The Office of Student Inclusion and Diversity (OSID), GSA and Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Education (OSAPE) came together to host a Transgender Day of Remembrance event in the Brew on Nov. 20 from 4-7 p.m.
Senior Joren Weller-VanHollebeke is a student ambassador for OSID and helped organize the event. The Brew windows display the names, pictures and stories of the lives lost this year. This year, the nation commemorates an estimated 366+ lives lost.
“It’s just more than I feel like I’ve been able to wrap my head around, in some instances,” Weller-VanHollebeke said. “I carry the stacks of paper with all of their names on it, and it just weighs me down.”
Earlier this year, Augustana’s LGBTQ+ coordinator, Sam Wright, resigned. Wright was the former advisor for GSA; Ashley Allen has stepped in as a temporary advisor.
“We relied on them a lot; losing them was difficult. Both from a we miss them and from a it’s hard to run things without them standpoint,” Olson said. “I think it’s been pretty smooth. We are currently looking for a new advisor.”
In a statement via email from Augustana’s strategic communications and media outreach specialist, Joushua Blount, and the college’s division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Blount said that the role is currently being staffed by temporary professionals. He said the college is using this time to revise the role as a part of the Becoming campaign, and the role will be revised and posted in the spring.
