Feature photo by Sam McIntyre
Story by Alyssa Williams
Alyssa Williams has a conflict of interest with a source. Williams is on the MTSU Speech and Debate team, which Natonya Listach coaches.
This year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance at MTSU carries a heavier weight for many on campus. Students and teachers alike continue to mourn Serenity Birdsong, a transgender student who died earlier this semester.
On Nov. 20, the world commemorates transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who were killed for living as their authentic selves and those who died by suicide. The day of recognition began in 1999 to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman killed in 1998.
The Intercultural and Diversity Affairs department of MTSU typically hosts an event during the evening of Trans Day of Remembrance, filling the courtyard with paper bags representing those who lost their lives. Each paper bag contains the name of a victim, their country of origin and the year of their death. The dates go as far back as 1970 and curl around the courtyard until they reach the current year.
This year, the memorial originally placed in front of the library for Birdsong’s vigil will be displayed again.
According to the National Library of Medicine, 82 percent of transgender individuals struggle with suicidal ideation, while 40 percent have attempted suicide with “suicidality highest among transgender youth.”
Josefine Parker, who works as the Program Coordinator for Gender Diversity at Vanderbilt University and helps organize Trans Day of Remembrance in Nashville, wanted to clarify that being trans and suicidality are not inherently linked, though the risk is greater.
“There’s always so many circumstances that are going on in one’s life that contribute to suicidality,” Parker said. “With that being said, because of transphobia, because of cissexism, because of homophobia, there’s a way those definitely impact people’s suicidality.”
Parker discussed how economic disenfranchisement,microaggressions, estranged familial relationships, region and politics affect suicidal ideation in trans people as well.
On Nov. 6, the day after election results were announced, the Trevor Project – a nonprofit suicide and crisis hotline for LGBTQ+ youth – saw a 700 percent increase in services from the previous week and a 5200 percent increase in mentions of the election across their crisis services that day.
However, despite the recent increase in anti-trans legislation and rhetoric, Parker does not think Trans Day of Remembrance is targeted the same way Trans Day of Visibility has been previously.
“I would be surprised if Trans Day of Remembrance was focused on because, in some ways for people who are transphobic, they see [trans people who’ve] been ill or committed suicide as a beneficial thing,” Parker said.
Parker attended the vigil for Birdsong. It was powerful to see the campus come together for one of its trans students, she said.
“I mean, it was powerful,” Parker said. “Not every person’s death is honored on campuses in such a significant way, and that reality of having a vigil and unflinchingly honoring someone who has just died is actually a model that more universities could learn from.”
Natonya Listach also attended the vigil, surrounded by the students from the MTSU Speech and Debate Team. She taught Birdsong in her History and Theory of Rhetoric class, and she recommended that Birdsong join the debate team earlier in the semester.
Listach didn’t encounter Birdsong until this semester. Every day, she showed up either on time or early, and they would immediately launch into the discussion for that day’s class. She described Birdsong as “the quintessential student.” Because the class only had 14 people, it was easy to become a community.
Birdsong could talk about anything, but she was particularly interested in queer theory. Listach recalled how Birdsong used to ask about that section of their class on a nearly weekly basis. She always inquired when Listach would post the articles about the topic for the class.
“I was so excited about seeing what she was going to do with her life and how she was going to use everything that she was, you know, she just absorbed like a sponge,” Listach said.
On Oct. 28, the day Birdsong died, Listach received an email from her around 10 a.m. It was a simple message, asking if she needed to sign up for a theory to talk about for the class’s next project.
“You know, that day, I was just numb. There, there was – there was nothing. There was absolutely nothing,” Listach said. “Yeah, I think, I think that’s one of the hardest days I’ve ever lived through in my entire life.”
The following Wednesday, Listach held class so students could talk to the counselors if they wished. Only one person showed up. She canceled class the following Friday.
“You know, we came back into class on Monday, and it was just so heavy walking into the class. You know, everybody was hurting, everybody was struggling,” Listach said. “And, just to know that we were walking in there, and she’s not going to be in her seat. We’re just – you know – we were just like – she’s going to come in.”
Listach ended her class four weeks early. Even though she knew Birdsong would want them to continue to learn and grow, it was too hard to ignore her growing absence.
Trans Day of Remembrance strikes a deeper cord within Listach’s heart this year as she remembers Birdsong’s personality and passion for learning. She asked that every student reach out to tell their professors if they are struggling and if they need help.
“This one’s going to be the roughest one for me to celebrate,” Listach said. “It’s just – it’s – it’s so painful to see somebody suffering through, and you know that they’re suffering, and you want to help them, and you try to help them the best you can, but also knowing that you can’t do everything.”
Alyssa Williams is the Managing Editor for MTSU Sidelines.
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