Queer Leadership Council (QLC) Intersectionality Coordinator Claire Mengel said the hopelessness that coincides with being transgender at Boston College pushed them to refuse accepting that it “sucks to be trans” at BC.
“While it would be lovely if this work was already done, or [it] was being done by administration, it’s kind of time for us, if no one else is gonna do it, we’re gonna do it,” Mengel, MCAS ’26, said.
Mengel and QLC Policy Coordinator H Edwards co-founded the Trans* Collective student group at the beginning of this semester. Run by and for transgender students at BC, the collective aims to increase visibility and make a home for trans students on campus.
While both Mengel and Edwards are a part of the executive board for QLC, which is a division of UGBC, Edwards said the collective is an independent group, which has its own meetings that focus solely on providing support for trans students. The group is then able to turn toward QLC for guidance on the topics that arise during its meetings.
“We are able to bring that back to QLC and use [its] resources, whether that be like money in order for an event or even [Aidan Seguin] helping us out with how to even get a meeting going with administration,” Edwards, MCAS ’26, said.
QLC Chair Seguin, who is not a member of the Trans* Collective, said QLC has taken a hands off approach to the new group, but their relationship would continue to be defined in the future.
“I think one of my key functions in relation to the Trans* Collective is being that point person to connect them to the people that they’re looking to talk to,” Seguin, MCAS ’25, said.
The idea for Trans* Collective first arose when Edwards and Mengel visited Fordham University for the Ignatian Q LGBTQ+ conference last semester.
“There was a group for trans students—trans law students—at Fordham, and hearing their initiatives, the programming that they do, the visibility that they try and create for trans students sort of pushed us to want to form this collective,” Edwards said.
According to Mengel, the Trans* Collective is a way to ensure that transgender students’ voices are heard, and that they have a platform where they can feel comfortable speaking out.
“We want to make sure that there is a place for trans students that is run by students for them to feel welcome, for them to feel at home,” Mengel said.
Edwards said that in the past he sometimes felt pushed aside due to the lack of trans resources and a trans-specific group on campus.
“Creating this group was mostly to ensure that everyone is keeping in mind the trans voice at BC, but also so that we had a space, in case we didn’t feel welcome through other groups on campus,” Edwards said.
The collective seeks to work closely with the Office of Residential Life and different administrators to create gender-inclusive housing. It also plans to host a “Speak Out” event for transgender people to express themselves anonymously, according to Edwards.
Another event that Edwards and Mengel discussed planning is an on-campus clothing swap.
“Students who may not feel comfortable shopping in sections for clothing that fit them better or students who don’t have the resources, the money for it,” Edwards said. “Everyone can bring clothes that they kind of want to donate and students can go around picking different items, just to build their little wardrobe.”
While Seguin said it was too early to expect feedback from administrators, the Trans* Collective is gathering research on gender-based housing policies at other universities.
“Different pathways to changing policy at BC are being explored,” he said. “To me, that’s the most important thing.”
Edwards and Mengel said the question of who can join the collective has arisen, because they want to ensure that students who may not be publicly out as transgender feel safe in the collective’s environment. This is why Edwards encourages students to reach out to them first if they are interested in joining, he said.
“Anybody who is passionate about action, or community for trans students, I’ve been trying to express that this isn’t a group about trans students,” Edwards said. “I think if you want to learn about trans-ness, identities, what a pronoun is, there are a lot of space for that which can be QLC, but I think for action and community building is sort of who we’re for.”
Edwards noted that in the Trans* Collective’s first meeting, one student described being a trans student at BC as lonely.
“I feel like this works to stop that, that works to build a real sense of like, acceptance,” Edwards said. “And I honestly get very emotional thinking about where I was last year and how difficult it is [to be transgender], to [now] having an actual student group.”
