On April 2, Middlebury Queers and Allies (Q&A) organized a panel in recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility. The panel discussed topics ranging from building community to legal action countering anti-transgender legislation.
The event featured a diverse group of speakers: Alison Finch, director of Middlebury College Health Services; Lauren MacMullin, assistant professor of psychology; Michael Haley, attorney from GLAD Law –– an LGBTQ+ advocacy group; community activist Sydney Hansley; Simon Sammel, a transgender man who works in Davis Family Library as a full stack developer; and Loren Scott, operations manager at Middlebury International Student and Scholars Services, who has a PhD on representation of transgender people in the academic community.
According to Ridgly Anzalone ’28, moderator of the panel and board member of Q&A, said the panel’s purpose was to create a collective, safe environment that celebrated trans joy.
“Trans Day of Visibility was created in somewhat of a response to Trans Day of Remembrance, which is a day of mourning and acknowledgment of the things trans people have suffered. So in a way, it’s a day of countering that,” Anzalone said in an interview with The Campus. “A lot of the visibility we get is centered around violence or is otherwise negative. Days like Trans Day of Visibility are all about raising and making visible the happiness and joy of trans people, and coming together as a community to celebrate.”
Building community — both in transgender spaces and elsewhere — is essential, according to many of the panelists. Particularly during this political time, Scott emphasized the tendency for transgender people to feel isolated.
“The outside world would have us believe that we are alone. That’s an intentional strategy,” Scott said. “And I’m not here to tell you that it gets better, because that’s a damaging message. But I am here to say it can be different and that we are not alone.”
“One of the ways you can engage in your community –– you should engage in your community –– is to ask for help,” Sammel said. “A take from my friend is that it is anti-community to not ask for help. And what they mean by that is this idea that you spread joy when you help, so asking for help is an opportunity for that. Asking for help is a way for all of us to be stronger together.”
Sammel talked about how, more than feeling comfortable within community spaces, he tries to find ways to live cohesively within his own body.
“Doing jumping jacks when I have anxiety, or knitting to have that repetitive motion is relaxing,” Sammel said. “Find a way somehow that feels good to your body to move or just exist, because it’s so hard sometimes to get that connection with yourself as a trans person.”
When asked how to best support transgender friends and family, many panelists said that being willing to do a simple Google search was crucial. Hansley, a trans woman and leader of Vergennes Pride, emphasized that this is a time when transgender people are already worried, and that it’s important to remember that before sharing news that threatens the livelihoods of transgender individuals.
“To loved ones of trans folks, I would say educate yourself. And don’t ask your loved ones to educate you, and assume that your loved ones are also watching the news,” Hansley said.
In a time of pervasive threats to transgender rights, activists are fighting back. Michael Haley, an attorney at GLAD Law, is involved in numerous transgender rights cases, including challenging the Trump administration’s ban on transgender service members in the Military and Medicaid blocks for transgender people. Hayes emphasized his work in overturning and working around these federal rulings in the states of Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
“We’re working a lot in State Legislators,” Hayes said. “For five out of six states, we’re working with state legislators who want to do good things for the transgender populations.”
In one case, Hayes outlined, the Air Force offered transgender service members early retirement in order to avoid a fight regarding their removal. Although 18 transgender service members accepted the offer, the government withheld their retirement benefits and required they go through the involuntary separation process, denying the pension and healthcare they had been offered.
“To qualify in the first place, they had to be there for at least 15 years,” Hayes said. “They would raise their hand to say, ‘I would die for this country, the people,’ and to tear away from them the retirements that they had earned and were already awarded is so beyond cruel.”
Hayes and his team continue to fight against policies that restrict transgender rights, and he is hopeful that public sentiment is changing to oppose the federal legislation.
“People are seeing that some of these things are beyond the pale — cruel attacks — and people don’t want to feel like they’re a cruel person,” Hayes said.
For the public at Middlebury, Anzalone hoped that this panel would create a space for the community and offer both transgender folks and allies a forum to learn and ask questions.
“There are a lot of spaces on campus that we provide for queer people, but there are not as many spaces for people who are just curious or people who don’t know much to learn in a neutral environment,” Anzalone said.
“It was really nice to see the trans adults in the Middlebury and wider Vermont community,” Zeon Waterhouse ’28 said. “Having that representation, especially because older adult representation is really hard to find, was really cool to see.”
Rachelle Talbert '28 (she/her) is a News Editor.
Rachelle previously served as a copy editor. She is an English major with an intended minor in Art History. Outside of writing, she volunteers with Page One Literacy and experiments with visual and fiber arts.
