Helen Davis could have held part of the Wilkes University Transgender Day of Visibility ceremony inside, sheltered from the wind and early spring chill.
But she says it was important to have the students speak outside, in the center of campus, before the flagpole that would fly the pink, white and blue of the Transgender Pride flag on Tuesday.
“It is about visibility,” she said.
Davis is the Wilkes University Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) faculty advisor. She said this year’s event had extra importance for her students.
“It is feeling very frightening for many people,” Davis said of the nation's political climate. “So it becomes even more important for us to speak out our support and validate … that not only are trans students, faculty and staff welcome here, but that we support them, we see them, we appreciate them.”
Monday was International Transgender Day of Visibility. Wilkes University’s GSA has held a flag-raising ceremony close to March 31 for three years. This year, April 1 worked out the best.
Before the ceremony, Davis passed out smaller pride flags to about 20 people gathered in front of the three flagpoles at the center of campus in Wilkes-Barre.
Ozzie Priebe, a sophomore at Wilkes, carried one of those flags to the podium.
“I just so happen to be transgender,” Priebe said. “I spoke at this event last year … this year feels so eerily different from other years. So much around us is changing so incredibly fast.”
Rachel Crandall-Crocker, a psychotherapist and the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Transgender Michigan, started the day of visibility in 2009. She wanted to set aside a day to celebrate joy within the transgender and LGBTQ+ community.
But Priebe said the day also reminds people of the rights transgender people have fought for.
“We went from having basically nothing to being able to live in our societies with everybody else,” Priebe said. “What I expect people to do is use their voice to fight back against a world … that is pushing for transgender people to go away, to disappear completely, like we are some fantasy creature.”
Speakers did not directly address the Trump administration, but mentioned feeling that the transgender and nonbinary community are under attack.
During his first few days in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order declaring that the United States would only recognize two genders, male and female.
In February, Trump signed an order barring transgender women and girls from women’s school sports. A bill doing the same is currently on the floor of the Pennsylvania State Senate.
Elizabeth Leo is the Title IX coordinator at Wilkes University. That’s the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities.
Leo said it’s time to “double down,” to support LGBTQ+ students.
“We're all painfully aware right now that these are anxious times, and maybe even more so for anyone who feels marginalized in this community,” she said. “And today’s the perfect day to have that reminder.”
Priebe and third-year student Aster Rowland turned the crank to raise the transgender pride flag over the Wilkes campus. Davis said it would fly throughout the day on Tuesday.
“It’ll fly for the rest of the day and be a proud part of our campus,” she said.
