International Transgender Day of Visibility, a celebration of the experiences of transgender people that looks to raise awareness of the issues they face, was March 31, and one student organization thought to hold a celebration.
Louisiana Trans Advocates at LSU is a student-led chapter of the statewide organization Louisiana Trans Advocates, whose goal is to uplift and champion trans students. LTA at LSU was relaunched this semester after years of dormancy after the previous administration board graduated.
Astrophysics graduate student Marz Newman is the secretary and co-founder of LTA at LSU. Newman revived the group to address issues trans students face at LSU, such as unequal housing. Newman spoke to the Reveille about the impact gender-inclusive housing has on students, such as minimizing the isolation they face, and why it is important to expand housing options.
“There’s a lack of equality in housing,” Newman said. “Res Life has spoken for years about trying to expand the gender inclusive housing . . . but the fact that it’s been five years since personally I have heard of wanting to expand gender inclusive housing, it doesn’t give me a lot of hope or satisfaction in their responses.”
Transgender students have also found the process to change their name difficult. To be identified with the name they chose, students must change their name in several places, including on Moodle and in the Tiger Card Office. This is another issue that LTA at LSU hopes to address.
“It’s highly complicated,” Newman said. “You have to change your name in multiple different areas in order for it to come together as a full name change. It’s just more complicated than it needs to be.”
LTA at LSU also advocates to expand the healthcare services at the LSU Student Health Center to include transgender students, such as an endocrinologist who offers hormone replacement therapy, Newman said.
Partnering with Students for a Democratic Society at LSU and the Real Name Campaign, LTA at LSU held a “Transgender Day of Visibility and Vengeance” rally on April 1 from 1–3 p.m., featuring student speakers from all three organizations.
The event celebrated trans people in hopes that increasing trans visibility will help foster a supportive community for them on campus. Newman emphasized how this community is important to cultivate at LSU.
“I think that the people who are organizing this event, we see that there’s a lot of disconnect in the trans community at LSU,” Newman said. “There was a gap in having a trans-specific organization for a few years, and I think a lot of people feel alone.”
At the rally, students socialized and played sports such as frisbee and football on the Parade Grounds with the hopes of contradicting the message that transgender people cannot play sports. In 2022, Louisiana became the 18th state to ban trans athletes from playing on female school sports teams.
More recent developments LTA at LSU hopes to inform students about is pending legislation that could impact trans people in the state, including bills that would restrict teachers from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation in schools and require parent permission for a student to change their name or pronouns.
The bills are similar to those passed in 2023 by the GOP-dominated legislature but were vetoed by former Gov. John Bel Edwards. Gov. Jeff Landry is not likely to pose the same opposition, NOLA reports.
“This is kind of déjà vu from last year,” Newman said. “These are the same bills. That’s kind of what got me motivated to pursue activism. Those bills really hit home for me. When I was in high school, I think without my teachers, I would have been a lot worse off without their support.”
Interested students can find out more information about the group on their Instagram page, @lta.at.lsu.
“There’s a lot of reasons why LSU students would feel alone, and I think that it’s important to have these event,” Newman said. “There’s got to be room for community and some sort of unification of queer people. I think that’s what is important about holding events like this.”
