Illinois State’s Queer Coalition hosts Transgender Day of Visibility event

Image courtesy of Illinois State University 

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State University’s Queer Coalition hosted an event on Tuesday to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility.  

The Queer Coalition partnered with the University Housing Services’ Diversity Coalition to host the fifth annual sashay around campus, celebrating transgender visibility.  

Brie Byers, multimedia specialist at University Marketing and Communications and co-president of Queer Coalition, said that this event was hosted to show the community that transgender people are here to stay, no matter what other people have to say. 

“We are everywhere,” she said, “a world without trans people has not existed, a world without trans people will not exist.”  

Students, staff and community members were encouraged to attend the event, and according to Brie, the more the merrier. 

“These kinds of events are ways for us to bond with each other and just come together in hard times,” she said.  

Lawrence Lair, secretary of Queer Coalition, said that this event not only includes the sashay around campus, but also allows university members to share words with the participants.  

“We’ve had people from various departments, including the president’s office and community groups, table [and] show resources,” he said.  

Queer Coalition is Illinois State University’s LGBTQIA+ faculty, staff, and graduate student affinity group, and often partners with other groups on campus to host events and provide recourses for LGBTQIA+ members of the community.  

Lawrence shared some of the upcoming events for the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as allies and supporters, including everything from performances to book clubs. 

For more information on these events, check out the Queer Coalition website under the events tab.