(originally posted 10/08 at wordpress)
Portland, or, OCTOBER 17, 2008: The Queer Resource Center at Portland State University will be observing Trans Awareness Month during the month of November with a variety of informative and educational events. Activities will culminate November 20th for Transgender Day of Remembrance with a performance by critically acclaimed artist Scott Turner Schofield and a candlelight vigil to recognize and remember individuals who have been victims of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. All events are free and open to the public.
Scott Turner Schofield is a man who was a woman, a lesbian turned straight guy (who is mostly read as a gay man) creating theater about gender and sexuality in the Deep South. Not surprisingly, his work centers on contradictions and comedy. His FREE performance will take place Thursday, November 20th from 8:00 to 9:00pm in the Portland State University Smith Center Ballroom (Smith Room 355). The performance follows a candlelight vigil in the PSU Park Blocks (SW Park & Montgomery) from 6:30 to 7:30pm, featuring speeches by trans therapist and author Reid Vanderberg, "Spirit of Pride" award winner Laura Calvo, and Jenn Burleton, Executive Director at TransActive.
A Trans 101 workshop will be offered Wednesday, November 5th from 12:30 to 1:30pm in room 298 of the Smith Memorial Student Union (1825 SW Broadway). The following week, on Wednesday, November 12th from 12:30 to 1:30pm, a Beyond the Binary Panel Discussion (also in room 298 of the Smith) will highlight the wide variety of gender identities and sexual orientations that make up the GLBTQ community. Every Friday in November the QRC will be showing films with trans themes as part of their Friday Film Series from 4 to 6pm in the Queer Resource Center (Smith room 401).
Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project (http://www.rememberingourdead.org) and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Since then, the event has grown to encompass memorials in dozens of cities across the world, and on many college campuses is observed as part of Trans Awareness Month.
The Portland State University Queer Resource Center strives to provide a safe space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning students, staff, faculty and their allies to be, to learn, and to work together. For more information, visit them on the web at http://www.qrc.pdx.edu.
