The Transgender Day of Remembrance originated in 1999, with a vigil to remember Rita Hester and Chanelle Picket, two black Trans women who were brutally murdered a few years prior. It is meant to be a day of observance, a day where we recognize the persistence of violence and transphobia which affect trans folk around the world. In 2025, 289 Trans people were reported to have been murdered or committed suicide due to transphobia. This number likely underrepresents the actual scale of violence that Transgender people face. And in a world where transphobia and hate crimes are on the rise, it’s become depressing, stressful, enraging, and incredibly dangerous for many queer folks.
I believe that the event could have been advertised more and that an earlier time would have drawn a larger crowd. There were about 20 people at the event and while it was wonderful to meet and talk to everyone there, the lack of attendance was pretty noticeable. And it’s pretty upsetting because in some way it can feel deliberate.
Where is UFV situated in all this? Because at least in my experience while the campus has been a safe and accepting place for queer folks, there seems to be a divide between the Abbotsford community and UFV when it comes to accepting trans folks for who they are. While there is definitely a great queer community to be found, there’s still a lot of transphobia in Abbotsford, making it incredibly difficult for people like Lydia Luna, one of the people who attended the event from outside the university, to exist. During the event Luna expressed the anger that I felt and that I believe many Trans and queer folks feel, anger at the seeming disregard for the violence that is constantly perpetrated against the Trans community.
“There are people who aren’t here, who should be. And that’s because they are den[ied] basic human decency, and that fills me with an insurmountable amount of rage that I just tend to carry.”
I asked Brittany, an organizer of No Space for Hate Abbotsford who helped make the event possible, what she thought UFV could do to support Trans folks in the Abbotsford community and on campus.
“More events, stronger recognition for people’s rights … simple things like being inclusive in our language, in our practices, and kind of resisting assumptions … resisting heteronormal ideas, resisting discriminatory rhetoric, and being more encouraged, and more aware.”
On the topic of campus inclusivity Dr. Amber Gazso, a professor of sociology and the director of the School of Culture, Media, and Society explained that UFV provides many supportive and safe spaces for queer folks, such as in her classes, something I feel resonates as true for myself. But there is still a lot of work to be done and Dr. Gazso believes that we need to do better to recognize the Trans community at UFV.
“As a university, we could all move better towards being aware of that. Everyone lives and breathes in different ways, and we’re all unique, and we all should be treasured for it.”
I asked Dr Gazso if UFV students and our community could benefit from a required course covering issues such as LGBTQ people and how to be an ally. She explained that there is a possible course in the works that would combine women’s and gender studies, although it is in the very early planning stages.
“We recently revised a course that would be on … gender sexuality and women’s studies. And we were envisioning it to be … a course, that … everyone would have to take”
Here’s hoping!
I have faith that those reading this article will attend next year’s event, and take a look at the UFV Pride Collective as well. They are an amazing and supportive community and have put on some incredible events. In the Abbotsford community there is also the Binary Freedom Foundation and No Space for Hate which are both great organizations. These communities are so important especially as we grow as a university.
Trans people struggle so hard to find space and UFV should provide that. When our administration talks about the importance of our queer community, but important events like these get so little attendance, it starts to feel hollow. The words of Luna can beautifully articulate the fight that Trans people go through everyday, UFV could do more to fight alongside them.
“We have always been here. Forever, we resist. ”
