Students should avoid traveling to Florida this summer both for their safety and to show solidarity with the queer community affected by new state laws.

After transgender scholar Deirdre McCloskey dropped out of an on-campus debate against Michael Knowles, a conservative political commentator who has received enough attention on campus for a lifetime in the past few weeks, organizers for the event scrambled to find a replacement. 

To ensure the student body knew how silenced they are, TPUSA tabled in the Towers’ lobby to advertise their speakers, whose events the University never had any intention of canceling. Fearing their voices may be too quiet — or god forbid, silent — the organization hooked up a microphone and amp to blast their voices at volumes one might only expect to hear when standing on an airline runway

About 200 students protested at the intersection of Forbes Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard Monday afternoon, chanting “hate speech isn’t free, it costs lives'' and carrying signs with phrases such as “save trans lives.” 

With larger conversations going on about trans women in sports, I fear that many women won’t have access to the same critical experiences I had. Why should this experience be limited to just cisgender individuals? 

In the wake of the upcoming “anti-trans” events scheduled to take place on Pitt’s campus, some transgender students are raising concerns over safety and say they are disappointed by a lack of support from the University.

Pitt hosted the event “To Be Oneself” on Wednesday afternoon, which focused on ways the University can take action to support transgender students, faculty and staff and how everyone can support Pittsburgh’s trans community, specifically trans people of color.

The recent increase in anti-trans legislation is harmful and a step backward for America in acknowledging and accepting the LGBTQ+ community. Trans people need access to health care just as much as any cisgender person does, if not more, and their needs must be respected just like anyone else’s.