By Ash Egloff
Outlook Secretary
Transgender Awareness Week is important for a number of reasons, both to me personally and a number of other communities. Trans people so often go ignored in media and even conversations about LGBTQ+ subjects, and I think it’s a big step in the right direction to have a week dedicated to calling attention to transgender people and issues in order to show solidarity with them. I want other trans people on campus to be able to feel validated and know that there are people at Denison who value and support them.
As a trans person myself, I know firsthand how important it is to have even just one week for the campus and the rest of the LGBTQ+ community to say, “hey, we know trans people exist and are invested in learning about issues they face.” Outlook’s President Brian Allen has similar feelings, noting that “while the population of transgender students is not high at Denison, it is still so important to be able to provide transgender students and their allies with the space to be able to feel comfortable and feel like the rest of campus is welcoming towards their identities.”
In addition to supporting the transgender community specifically, it’s important for cisgender allies to be able to educate themselves and others, and I think this week offers multiple opportunities for that to happen. I always look forward to Trans Week because the LGBTQ+ community and others are able to really come together to make a concentrated effort to call awareness to transgender issues.