With celebrity headliner Laverne Cox slated to discuss her experiences as a transgender woman, the third annual Trans* Awareness Week, running from this past Monday to Saturday, promises to be bigger than ever.

The week, planned by Pride Alliance with assistance from Transcending Gender, SafeZones, WU-SLam, the Social Justice Center, Association of Black Students and the Danforth University Center, features events ranging from a workshop on transgender and trans-variant sensitivity to the annual “day of remembrance” vigil.

Although the vigil has been held nearly every year since 2005, Trans* Awareness Week has not been as regular due to problems securing funding in the past. In 2011, Pride Alliance spearheaded an effort to ensure the event happens yearly.

Junior Reuven Shechter, Pride Alliance’s internal co-president, said that the Washington University community seems more enthusiastic about the event than in years past.

“We have been pushing for it the last three years, and it’s been more successful each year,” Shechter said.

The workshop “Trans* 101,” which was held on Monday evening, was facilitated by SafeZones to introduce participants to the basics of being sensitive and respectful of persons identifying as trans.

“There was barely enough space for everybody,” Shechter said. “A lot of the discussion was on the difference between intent versus impact…people know someone and then they start transitioning—is it transphobic to continuously use their old pronoun? A lot of people were very split on that.”

On Wednesday night, students and University staff gathered in the DUC for a screening of “Southern Comfort,” a documentary film about Robert Eads, a transgender man from Georgia who was denied treatment for ovarian cancer because of his transgender identity. The film explores the stigma of being transgender in certain communities as well as problems with access to health care.

Trans* Awareness Week will also feature a presentation by Cox entitled “Ain’t I a Woman” on Thursday. Cox, who stars on the Netflix original series “Orange Is the New Black,” is a well-known actress, activist and contributor for the Huffington Post. Her piece “The Bullies Don’t Draw a Distinction” argued that gay rights and transgender and trans-variant rights are closely aligned because of the adversity their communities face.

“Everything she writes is about how people can do more for the trans community and how they can make more of a difference,” Shechter said. “Because we have Laverne Cox, we’re attracting a much larger crowd for the events than we had last year.”

Junior Danielle Adesman, who says she is interested in the business side of entertainment, plans to hear Cox speak in Graham Chapel.

“I’m really interested to see how the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community gets represented in the industry,” Adesman said.

“I know they’ve put a lot of hard work and effort into this, and I’d like to see something like this come off well and people becoming more aware,” senior Ethan Goldstein said.

After her talk, Cox will open a small reception in which members of the community discuss transgender activism and how to pursue next steps for the transgender and trans-variant community on campus. Students plan to discuss and set goals for a number of topics—such as housing for those who do not fall into the gender binary.

On Saturday, Nov. 23 at 5 p.m., the Washington University community will observe the 16th International Transgender Day of Remembrance; a Trans* Awareness Week Vigil will be held in McMillan Cafe. Spoken word poet Kit Yan will be coming to campus from Brooklyn to perform along with WU-SLam. A candlelight vigil will follow.

“Yan is very famous within the trans community,” Shechter said. “What we’re hoping is, because of the popularity of Laverne Cox and because of the hype from the other events, more people will come to the vigil than last year…we will take some time to remember trans people who have fallen, mostly to violence.”

“There’s definitely some sad and somber moments, but the real focus is on celebration,” senior Wolf Smith, external co-president of Pride, said. “We’re really trying to move away from this sad narrative of ‘oh, trans folks are dying’ and move it to ‘trans folk are surviving in this world despite all the hardships that we face.’”