On Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) held its annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil.

The event was held in the Residential Plaza here on Armstrong. The event was to remember and commemorate transgender people who lost their lives due to suicide or things such as hate crimes.

There were relatively few attendees, but the message was delivered and went on accordingly.

The OMA office told attendees of the event to select a card from the table containing the names of trans individuals who reportedly lost their lives to violence. The OMA office also showed attendees a video that talked about the day. Lastly, the attendees blew out the candles handed to them when they first got a card.

Dr. Ryan Groom, the LGBTQ+ Alumni Network-Student Support Coordinator, spoke on why students attend the event. “It goes into the whole aspect of your rounded undergraduate education of being culturally competent of those different from ourselves. If we have cultural confidence and understanding of those different from ourselves then there will be less likelihood of strife, violence and misunderstanding. We may have more ability to understand those different from ourselves and learn and grow from that,” said Groom.

Check out the gallery for pictures of the event.

You can find information for upcoming events and resources for those looking for their events to be covered on The George-Anne Inkwell’s Campus Corkboard.