Students gathered for a vigil at Denny Chimes on Thursday in observation of Transgender Awareness Week to honor the 41 transgender Americans who died to violence in 2025.
The vigil was hosted by the Queer Student Association and the University chapter of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity.
Gabrielle Gunter, director of community engagement of QSA said that the organization aims to ensure that the trans community on campus knows that they are there for them.
“Tonight, we wanted to hold space for those names, hold space for the memories of these lives and continue to honor them and their lives and the names that we don’t know as well,” Gunter said.
Students spoke about the importance of activism for the transgender community and wore white to the event as a symbol of purity and peace.
Alex Huddleston, president of URGE, said her family had to pull her little brother out of school for a year due to bullying for being transgender.
“But he is vibrant, social and thrives on community, and even in his new school, he feels pressured to hide who he is to survive,” she said.
Lilith Burton, event and community engagement director of URGE, said she believes “everyone’s soul is pure,” and everyone should be able to live as they want.
“Purity can be thought of in a lot of different ways, but in essence, everyone’s soul is pure,” said Lilith Burton, event and community engagement director of URGE. “No one innocent deserves to die, and all of these lives were innocent and then executed, in a sense, for living how they wanted to live.”
Participants emphasized the importance of speaking up against injustice rather than staying silent.
“A lot of people get scared because it’s not politically advantageous to align with the trans community right now,” said Sammy Bignault, president of QSA. “If we don’t stand up for them, no one will.”
The event concluded with a reading of the names of transgender people who died from violence in the U.S. this year according to the Transgender Day of Remembrance website and a moment of silence honoring the other names unknown to students.
“Love is louder than hate, and together we are always unstoppable,” Huddleston said.
