Tyler Wolfgang (they/them) hosted a candle making event to create candles to be used at a candlelight vigil in remembrance of students that have been killed due to transphobic violence. This event is not only to memorialize these students but to provide comfort and belonging for others.
Wolfgang discusses the hardships transgender and gender expansive communities face and why these days of visibility are so important to the community.
“This is our second annual candle making event for Trans Awareness Week and day of remembrance. We held our first one last year. It was pretty successful but the point is to have on-campus events but also acknowledge that there are community events on Trans Day of Remembrance.”
“They’re doing candlelight vigils and memorials for folks in the Trans and gender expansive communities in 2022 and in the past that have been killed to transphobic violence, how violence and discrimination really perpetuates within these communities at at higher rate,” Wolfgang said.
“So it’s a week to kind of acknowledge the difficulties and hardships these communities face.”
This week is not only for students identifying with this community, but for students outside of this community to recognize and identify the struggles members of this community face.
“It’s a week for folks who are allies of the community to understand what trans and gender expansive folks go through and experience and to understand how it can be difficult to be holding these identities when there’s lots of dehumanization that happens within our society but it’s also to bring a sense of identity and belonging to those in this community,” Wolfgang said.
With this being the second annual candle making event, some changes needed to be made in terms of partnering with different resources or groups at UW.
“This is our second annual candle making event, but this year we have partnered with not just Multicultural Affairs, which is my office, but also with a student group, Queer Community Coalition, UWYO Green Dot, and UWYO Restorative Justice.
“We just added gender affirming circles before this candle making event so we have it in the Multicultural Resource Center,” Wolfgang said.
Raising awareness and providing these days for members of this community as well as allies and those who want to learn more regarding these groups is essential, and according to Wolfgang, goes beyond just the UW community.
“I think it goes beyond just UW, just Wyoming in general we need to see more of these events that are identity focused and not just celebrate but also bring awareness to challenges these communities face. UW has a long way to go to create more inclusive and affirming spaces but the more we can do these visible events and build that sense of belonging for students who hold these identities or students that would like to learn more about these identities, it’s perfect for education,” Wolfgang said.
