During the week of November 16 to 20, leading up to Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, the Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) will be holding Transgender Awareness Week. CCSS members will be setting up tables on campus to offer resources and information to students and passersby; they will be at Lansdowne campus in the Fisher lobby, and at Interurban in the CBA atrium.
CCSS women’s director Madison Huynh says it’s important to acknowledge the Day of Remembrance.
“It’s about informing people a bit about the struggles that people may go through,” says Huynh. “It’s about celebrating those we still have, and it’s also about supporting them, showing them what resources are there and that people have their back, and then it ends off with the Day of Remembrance for those whom we have lost.”
As part of spreading awareness and recognition, Huynh will be found showing her support and handing out treats on the Lansdowne campus.
“I’m kind of doing something similar to what I did last year,” she says. “It’s mostly tabling. I’m offering some treats to people, I usually get sugar cookies and then I have a few gluten-free options.”
With the help of the previous CCSS pride director, Huynh has compiled into a pamphlet a list of local resources and information to be handed out to whomever may be interested. Highlighted this year is the news of recent expansions made to the Camosun student health insurance policy.
“Mostly what I intend to offer is information and support,” says Huynh. “This year particularly, what I’m excited to talk about is we updated our insurance policy that all students have access to, and it includes supportive gender affirming care. The provincial government kind of supports people, and besides that though, people experience a lot of financial pressures after the fact, and so our intention here is to fill that gap. So I’m excited to talk about that, because not only is it for the students that we have on campus, but people can get family members on their plan and that can help support them too.”
Aside from distribution of information, the aim of Transgender Awareness Week is to recognize transgender people and their experiences, and to show to students that they are supported in being who they are. Huynh says that she wishes for students to feel that campus is a safe place for them to understand themselves.
“I feel like whatever I say will never do justice to the actual experiences that people may have,” she says. “I’m here mostly as a supporting role, trying to show people that they’re not alone. And I’m pretty limited in that role… I think everyone should be comfortable expressing their gender, exploring it. Everyone should find what is most comfortable for themselves and be allowed to exist as that. I worry about that state of the world, so anything that I can do to say, ‘No, there is support out there’… I generally try to be uplifting when I do all that, but I know it can be a very tough subject for a lot of people.”
Huynh hopes that by seeing the support on campus, students will “feel like they’re allowed to belong,” she says.
“I feel like belonging is an important part of the human experience, and life can be isolating,” says Huynh. “So I hope to facilitate a bit of that.”
See camosunstudent.org or find the student society on Instagram (@camosunstudents) for more information.