Wayne State College’s PRIDE Club will have a table in the student center for International Transgender Day of Visibility on Monday, March 31 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
According to Pride Source, a Michigan-based publication dedicated to keeping readers up to date on news and events in the LGBTQ+ community, International Transgender Day of Visibility has been celebrated every year on March 31 since 2009. The day was designed to highlight positive and hopeful aspects of the transgender community, as opposed to Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is intended to remember those whose lives have been lost to violence and hate crimes. Positive and lighthearted holidays like this are increasingly more important, with many people fearing for their rights as more pieces of harmful legislation are passed every year. It is important that transgender people across the world know that they will always have support and community behind them, and WSC’s PRIDE club wants to show their support as well.
The group will have a table at the west entrance of the student center on March 31 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Members of the PRIDE club will be at the table to give out pronoun pins, share informational pamphlets about Transgender Day of Visibility and PRIDE club and sell pride-themed stickers to contribute toward club fundraising. The stickers will be available for $2, or $5 for three.
Kaitlyn Michaelson, the president of the WSC PRIDE Club, said that the club’s goals in holding this table are to share information about transgender identities, raise awareness for the discrimination that many transgender individuals face and show support for LGBTQ+ students on campus, regardless of whether or not those students are members of PRIDE club.
“I think it’s important that we recognize this holiday,” Michaelson said. “We want to say ‘we’re here, we see you and you’re supported in your identity, regardless of politics or what other people are saying.’”
Michaelson said she hopes that PRIDE club can be a safe and accepting space for all students on campus, and that she wants the table on Transgender Day of Visibility to help show that support, as well as share information about the holiday and the club.
