The march is the first in the center’s history and was held to support the transgender community on campus in the face of growing anti-trans legislation
By Rivers Stout — campus@theaggie.org
On Nov. 20, the LGBTQIA Resource Center’s Trans Day of Remembrance and Rage march was held around the UC Davis campus for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The event was held to show that transgender voices will remain active despite a record increase in hostile legislation, and that the center will continue to resist anti-trans violence, according to Black Flaugher, the director of the LGBTQIA Resource Center. The center also produced a list of demands to the university in order to create a safer space for students.
Flaugher spoke on the significance of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and how the march supports its values.
“Today was all about marching in support of trans lives,” Flaugher said. “Trans people are prone to many forms of violence every day, and today — Trans Day of Remembrance — was all about honoring those trans siblings lost to anti-trans violence.”
An anonymous transgender student organizer had differing reasons for participating in the march.
“We were here to inspire rage in the trans community,” the student organizer said. “I think that what has been happening in terms of the election and UC Davis’ largely inactive movements to try and defend trans students have been forming a lot of rage in the community, a lot of anxiety specifically.”
They also noted that members at the center have been feeling much fear after the election with some trans community members considering leaving the country or even detransitioning due to post-election safety concerns.
“Its been depressing, post election [at] the center felt more like a funeral [and] the center is usually pretty happy,” the organizer said. “I mean, it has a lot of things in it. It’s a place where a lot of people come to feel a myriad of emotions. Post election, it’s been a feeling of anxiety.”
Protestors gathered in the LGBTQIA Resource Center at 11 a.m., where a presentation was held to demonstrate how to create protective sigils. By 12:05 p.m., roughly 50 protestors had gathered on the Memorial Union South Patio in the rain. Komolika Basu, the creator of Sakhi, a club for South Asian and Middle Eastern students within the LGBTQIA community or who are questioning, read a speech to the crowd on the importance of the day and resilience moving forward.
A list of pre-approved chants was handed out before the march began. Some of the chants included were: “They kill us, they fuck us, our bodies they don’t trust them. We riot, we riot, our bodies are above them”; “No restrooms, no sports, they want us to revolt” and “No borders, no nations, trans liberation.” These and others were used over the duration of the march.
Within a few minutes of the march’s start time, individuals with megaphones began shouting a variety of other chants, including some from previous pro-Palestine protests and other similarly pro-Palestine/transgender advocacy chants. Some chants included: “Queers and trans, we demand freedom for Gaza, free Sudan”; “Nex Benedict we remember, trans lives will live forever”; “We will never stay quiet, the first ride was a riot” and “Admin let transphobia slide, they are not on our side.” Although the chants differed from the pre-approved list, most of the crowd chanted along.
Flaugher commented on the pro-Palestine chants.
“It wasn’t a surprise,” Flaugher said. “We support queer students’ freedom of expression.”
The crowd also demanded the termination of Beth Bourne, a UC Davis STEPS+ program coordinator who is an active anti-transgender rights advocate. She was a popular subject on social media platforms over the summer, which resulted in UC Davis releasing a statement about her behavior. This demand, however, is not on the list of demands that the center created.
“I think Beth Bourne herself is not a particularly rare occurrence,” the student organizer said. “She’s more like a microcosm of how the university allows hate speech to happen on campus […] The university will allow [this] to happen so long as it doesn’t cut into their public perception or bottom line.”
Two of the center’s demands addressed these issues. One was for students to be treated with respect, including to stop deadnaming and misgendering in the classroom. Another called for UC Davis to “tighten up” policies on gender discrimination and harassment.
The organizer spoke on these demands and also addressed the future contention regarding the availability of certain medications that are widely used by transitioning individuals.
“It feels like this university does not have any contingent plans or any actual movement right now within the administration to effectively try to cover for these medications being removed near or after Jan. 20,” the student organizer said.
Flaugher addressed a similar concern.
“There’s a lot of fear that restrictions are going to be placed on gender-affirming care for adults,” Flaugher said. “Making sure that our university is prepared to continue funding care regardless of what restrictions may be put in place [is important].”
Three demands were centered around these fears and improving what systems UC Davis already has in place. One of the demands was partially created because of harassment the center has previously experienced.
“Our center has had some targeted harassment over the past year,” Flaugher said. “[We want] to make sure that the policies UC Davis and the UC system have in place are sufficient enough to protect us. I don’t want the bar for those policies concerning policy violations to be super high. We want to make sure that policies are able to protect us as they’re written.”
Flaugher believes there are administrators that would be open to discussing the center’s demands.
“We’re always going to support trans students’ freedom of expression,” Flaugher said. “We’re going to aim to be a safe and welcoming place for students to come and have refuge. We’re going to keep doing programming that educates our community and allies about what trans and queer people are experiencing every day. We’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
At 12:51 p.m., the marchers returned to the Student Community Center. Once the march had officially concluded, the crowd repeatedly chanted, “Fuck Beth Bourne.”
Those who wish to keep up with the center’s events can follow them on Instagram or visit their website at lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu. The center is located on the first floor of the Student Community Center and is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Thursday and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m on Fridays.
Written by: Rivers Stout — campus@theaggie.org
