UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Throughout the month of November, the Penn State Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSGD) celebrates Transgender Awareness Month. The month marks a time to celebrate the transgender, nonbinary and gender-diverse communities.  

As part of that recognition, Penn State will observe Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. This annual observation honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to highlight the losses faced due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence.

“I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people — sometimes in the most brutal ways possible — it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice," Smith said in a statement about the day.

CSGD, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, in conjunction with the Queer and Trans People of Color student organization, will hold an event at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 17, in Worship Hall of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center at University Park to honor the lives of transgender and nonbinary individuals. This event is a time for members of the Penn State community to come together to remember and honor those who have been killed in 2021 because of their perceived gender identity and/or expression.

The event will consist of reflections, readings, music, and the reading of names of those lost to violence. Light refreshments will be served after the event.

More information about Transgender Day of Remembrance is available here.