Transgender Day of Visiblity

March 31st is International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), a day observed each year to celebrate the contributions of trans people to our lives and to our culture.

International TDOV was founded in 2009 by US trans advocate Rachel Crandall in response to the overwhelming majority of media stories about trans people being focused on violence. She hoped to create a day where people could re-focus on celebrating the lives of transgender people, empowering them to live authentically, while still acknowledging that due to discrimination, not every trans person can or wants to be visible.

There are an estimated 1.6 trans, non-binary and gender diverse people in the United States. They come from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, they are young and old, they live in every state, they exist at every age and in every faith community. They are as diverse as cisgender folks.

Trans joy is an important message of TDOV, because trans joy exists. There are happy and thriving trans and non-binary folx. The best way to learn about the community is from trans and non-binary folks themselves. And remember it is not the responsibility of trans and gender diverse folx to educate you on their experience, if they do so it is out of the kindness of their hearts. It is up to us as allies to seek out information and resources from those out and offering to do the education and work.