Celebrating Trans Joy at Oxford Brookes Trans Awareness Week
LGBTQ`+ Network organises Transgender Awareness Week to celebrate trans joy, bringing awareness about the community and commemorating the ones who have passed away.
Trans Awareness Week is taking place from November 19th to the 22nd at Oxford Brookes. The theme chosen for this year is Trans Joy, since, as well as remembering trans people who have passed away, it also aims to “celebrate the trans joy experienced in life.”
“There is not enough focus in the fact that there is happines for trans people, its not all sadness and struggles” explains Adrienne Golson, Vice-Chair of the LGBTQ+ Students' Network.
“There is a community for you, you are not alone”, says Adrienne. This is the main message they aim to transmit to the students throughout the week.
The week started with an Engagement Stall where students could create a tye-dye bandana, followed by a Gender Euphoria clothes swap shop at the Union Gallery. On Wednesday, a Tea and Talk event was hosted at the Union Boardroom.
A candlelit vigil was held on Thursday, November the 20th, World Transgender Day of Remembrance, where lives lost in anti-transgender violence were honoured. “We remembered those who struggled for us to have the rights we have today, and we fight so that the future generations won’t have to struggle like we have” explained Adrienne.
Today, to bring closure to the week, the speaker event “Voices of Trans Joy” will be held at John Henry Brookes, where both staff and students involved in the community will contribute telling their stories.