Transgender Awareness Week

The week of November 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week and directly precedes the Transgender Day of Remembrance. This Day of Remembrance is when we remember the trans and gender diverse individuals lost to violence over the past year. As the visibility of trans folx has increased so has the violence against them.

And that is why it is so incredibly important that this week of awareness ends with the Day of Remembrance, because awareness and visibility without active protection of civil liberties, activism and action, trans and non-binary folx are simply left more vulnerable to harassment, violence and death.

Visibility and awareness are important first steps, as it is estimated only ????% of people actually know a trans person, and we don’t know what the statistics are for non-binary individuals. This leads to so much room for misunderstandings, bias and prejudice. There are wonderful resources out there to learn more such as the documentary Disclosure, and resources and videos found on GLAAD, Out and Equal

Once again this year saw an unprecedented number of trans and gender diverse people murdered (44 in the US), and once again the vast majority of those killed were Black trans women. These statistics are estimates as there is no official tracking of this information, and often in death, these individuals are misgendered and dead named.

It is well past time to demand justice for trans and gender diverse people in life and in death. It is time for those of us in positions of power and privilege to use those resources to up-lift others and fight for their rights and safety.

Statistics from Human Rights Campaign