Despite the latest rain storm that has dropped more than three inches of rain in some areas of California, this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance held strong from noon to 3 p.m. at CSUN’s Plaza del Sol in the University Student Union (USU) on Thursday.
Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day devoted to the trans people who lost their lives due to transphobia. This day has been observed annually since 1999, when it was first created to commemorate Rita Hester, a trans woman murdered in 1998.
Jared Brown, graduate student assistant for the Pride Center, worked alongside Student Events Assistant Tam Tran to coordinate the event. They spent hours researching and organizing the entire week of activities dedicated to trans people on campus during the Pride Center’s Trans Week of Awareness. For CSUN’s Transgender Day of Remembrance event, Brown and Tran included an altar, a reading of names, a moment of silence and an open mic to remember those lost this year.
Brown and Tran invited the Women’s Research and Resource Center (WRRC), University Counseling Services (UCS), Klotz Student Health Center and the Trans Wellness Alliance to table in the Grand Salon. Students were able to learn about the resources available not only to trans people, but all students who identify as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“Just given the times that we currently live in, the importance of solidarity and beyond solidarity is active solidarity and really how people shape and identify their allyship,” Brown said. “It’s more than just posting something on Instagram and posting something online. I’m hoping that people who do come in don’t share the trans identity but are allies, hopefully they can come and get a better sense of not only how they can support trans individuals, but also what contributes to the wellness or success of trans individuals.”
Brown, who did his undergraduate research on the LGBTQIA+ community, said he understands how important it is to have a real event for students to attend and not have just “performative allyship but active allyship.” He hopes the university is able to do more in the future.
“I haven’t always grown up in queer-affirming spaces, so seeing an event like this, for me, is like, kind of cathartic in a way,” he said. “It’s like, people do actually care this much.”
Tran, who contributed to last year’s affair, made sure that it was centered around trans students and their identity. She, alongside the rest of the committee who planned the event, spent most meetings researching current events to bring awareness to what it means to be trans. Now, she feels confident in her knowledge on trans history to teach others. It is not just a day of mourning, but a celebration of life.
“Trans people exist and they are around you,” Tran said. “They are people that go through the same life experiences that we go through. Like, you know, we have trans people in government, as veterans, in school, you know, all sorts of places. So they exist, and they can achieve whatever you can achieve. Their identity does not speak to their ability to do anything less to what you are doing.”
Joshua Chow, staff psychologist at the UCS, said the event was a “festive and reflective” place for students to express themselves and their identity. Armed with arts and crafts supplies to create button pins, he and Aidan Karus, a doctoral intern for the UCS, created a space for allies to learn about ways they can support.
“I just think about my clients who are trans and trans+, and I can really see how stuck they feel right now, because of the environment we are in right now and the external forces that are using trans folk as tools,” Chow said. “Just to inject and spread a little more love, I think that’s the cure to the hate that’s being spread.”
Kraus, who identifies as trans, said they feel very privileged to be able to show up and support the community through events and the UCS, which includes a support and process group for trans students and individual therapy sessions.
Halfway through the gathering, Martel Okonji, manager for the Pride Center, welcomed the Trans Wellness Alliance President Jennifer Shaw and Secretary Jaime Fender to the stage for the reading of the names of those who died this year. There were a total of 58 names.
“These people deserve to be remembered,” Fender said. “And by living on and by continuing day by day, we ensure the transgender community continues into the future and that these people will not have died in vain.”
According to the Anti-Trans Bill Tracker, this year alone has seen a record number of anti-trans bills passed. Since the start of 2025, out of 1,012 proposed bills, 124 anti-trans bills have been passed and 103 are still being tracked.
Shaw, who is part of both the LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee for the Associated Students (AS), strives to provide a transgender perspective to advocate for their community on campus.
“I can be on that list everyday. You know, for me, being a trans woman and an activist, I have a target on my back,” Shaw said.
Her work is already being recognized by the upper administration. She hopes CSUN students will join T-Camp, a three-day camping trip at Pilgrim Pines Camp in Yucaipa in which trans students from different CSUs, UCs, community colleges and private universities are invited to attend educational workshops and create community.
Pearl, a trans individual who preferred to go by a pseudonym, stated that while they have not felt loss personally, they felt it in the sense of community.
“It’s not just an isolated little community that is being targeted, it has significance on everyone,” they said. “Just because trans people make up a small percentage of the population doesn’t mean we’re not part of the population or the changes that happen in our lives aren’t cascading out into everyone else’s life.”
The Pride Center is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. Students can find more information through their website or through the center’s Instagram, where they post information about their regular events like TRANScend and Community Coffee Chats.
