Trans Awareness Week is a series of events that raise awareness and educate the Columbia community about the lives and experiences of transgender and non-binary communities. The week also sets out to celebrate, affirm and center transgender and non-binary communities on campus.
The events below are organized by a collaborative student programming board with students from Barnard College, Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, General Studies and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
- Clothing Swap/Study Break: A trans-affirmative clothing swap where people of all genders (or no gender) can donate and/or take clothes that affirm their gender identity and expression.
- Practicing Mindfulness: A supportive space for students of all genders and no gender to discuss self-care methods that have worked for them.
- Breaking the Binary: A discussion centered on the ways that the gender binary manifests in different languages.
- Fighting Trans Incarceration: A screening of Happy Birthday, Marsha! directed by Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel.
- Spirituality in the LGBTQ Community: Part of Quench, this lunch and discussion will focus on the challenges of building diverse LGBTQ-centered spiritual communities.
- Trans Activist Walking Tour: Part of CU Out on the Town, this walking tour of downtown Manhattan will cover the famed Christopher Street Piers to the STAR House founded by Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera.
- Community Dinner: In honor of Trans Awareness Week, the student programming board is hosting a community dinner. Vegetarian and vegan options will be provided.
- Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil: Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence that year. After the vigil, we will be going to a community vigil in the city.