Ryerson University issued the following announcement on Nov. 3.

With this year’s events all virtual, the Positive Space team has had to get creative to find ways to connect and raise awareness. Photo from Ryerson’s 2019 Trans Awareness Month events in the SLC.

November is Trans Awareness Month and Ryerson’s Positive Space has a number of great events scheduled all throughout the month. The month’s events launched on Monday with the official kick-off and continue until the end of November. All Ryerson community members are invited to participate in these advocacy and educational events that celebrate, honour and raise the visibility of the trans community.

As part of the scheduled events, Positive Space will also honour the memory of trans people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence on November 20 for Trans Day of Remembrace.

“Advocacy for trans folks is especially important right now because so many of us are struggling more than ever to survive,” says Dani Gomez-Ortega, manager of student experience in the Faculty of Community Service, who has been involved in planning this year’s events and is part of the panel discussion on trans and non-binary inclusion in the workplace.

“Many of the conversations around trans inclusion have focused on washrooms and pronouns. While this has been incredibly helpful for many trans people, trans people with less privilege based on race, disability, class and more continue to die every day as they face racism, police brutality, unemployment, food insecurity, etc. My hope is that people who are passionate about advocating for trans folks also advocate for Black rights, Indigenous rights, disability rights and other marginalized communities as it is only through this effort that we’ll ensure a bright future for all trans people.”

Marty Fink, professor in the School of Professional Communication, who has also been involved in planning this year’s events and who will give a talk on Trans Pandemics: COVID-19, HIV Activism, and Defunding Police, echoes Gomez-Ortega’s sentiments. “With the pandemic, I’ve been watching trans communities come together in so many ways in support of Black Lives Matter - it’s amazing that in response to the pandemic, trans people are working to defund the police to address systemic violence and anti-Black racism.”

Fink says they see these developments on a larger community scale, but also within the Ryerson community itself. “It’s exciting how, in COVID-19, issues of anti-Black racism are being framed specifically as trans issues. I think this year, even though we are physically separated from one another, it’s an important moment to support each other in thinking about new ways of connecting toward increasing access to education by addressing anti-Black racism.”

This year’s events were organized in partnership with committee members from the Library, The Catalyst at FCAD, Faculty of Community Services, Faculty of Communication and Design, Athletics, Human Resources, the Academic Success Centre, Internal Audit, Yeates School of Graduate Student and the Office of the Vice-President Administration and Operations.

This month’s events

Wednesday, November 4: FLUID film screening. Join The Catalyst, Positive Space and Alysia Myette for a screening and conversation about her documentary “FLUID”, a documentary that explores how self-identifying queer artists self-fashion and engage in cultural production as a two-fold approach to queer worldmaking.

Tuesday, November 17: Trans Pandemics: COVID-19, HIV Activism, and Defunding Police will revisit trans women's archives from the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic to think through ongoing strategies for harm reduction and caregiving in response to COVID-19. By looking to trans activism past and present, this talk connects trans legacies of HIV activism to present-day movements in COVID-19 toward Black Lives Matter and defunding the police.

Friday, November 20: on Trans Day of Remembrance, join Positive Space to remember the trans lives lost, to reflect on our actions and to challenge yourself to be an advocate for trans people.

Thursday, November 26: Trans and non-binary inclusion in the workplace’s panel discussion will feature individuals who will speak to their lived experience including the personal, systemic and institutional barriers they’ve encountered and how to support and take action for the rights of trans and gender non-conforming individuals at Ryerson.

To see the full list, visit the Positive Space website.

Original source: https://www.ryerson.ca/news-events/news/2020/11/participate-in-this-years-virtual-trans-awareness-month/