Trans Day of Visibility
Mike Doughty, April Newsletter ‘24
Those of you in or around trans circles probably have at least heard of, if not celebrate in some way, International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV or Trans Day of Visibility). It is a day to celebrate trans folks around the world, while also raising awareness to the discrimination of those folks. TDOV started back in 2009 in Michigan because at the time the only major well known transgender focused day was Transgender Day of Remembrance which focuses on the trans folks lost to violence to the community worldwide. Even with the amount of growth and acceptance that the trans community has gained since TDOV started, there is still a lot of pushback, such as 2023 having over 500 anti LGBTQ laws proposed across the US, mostly targeting gender or trans related issues. While uplifting the growth and achievements of trans people is amazing, if you do not have a certain amount of privilege, being visible can be scary or dangerous. Being part of a marginalized community does come with the potential for backlash and violence, especially if you have an intersectional identity.
Now you may be asking, why make an article about an LGBTQ celebration day that has been going on for 15 years?
Firstly, the trans community has grown and is more visible since TDOV started 15 years ago, and the way people use the day has started to change. The host of the Gender Reveal podcast, with the help of their friends, a few years ago started Trans Day of Staying In and Having A Nice Snack (or Trans Day of Snack). Trans Day of Snack is a mutual aid program where they get together money from anyone who wants to donate and they use that money to then give trans folks funds to get food, help pay towards rent and bills, to be able to live a little bit more comfortably even if just for one day. The thought behind Trans Day of Snack is directly related to the potential harm or fear that being trans AND visible can bring if you are not someone who has the means to your own safety. It is also a way for the community and allies to help directly support those in the community that are maybe struggling without needing to ask for it from an agency or the government where sometimes that care is slow or nonexistent.
Secondly because this year Trans Day of Visibility was shared with another major holiday – Easter. I won’t get into the religion of it all, but I did see and saw a lot of headlines about people with a lot of sway and power in the conservative groups for the country talking about how TDOV should have been moved, how they are only going to celebrate Jesus, in an attempt to put a target on the trans community. Holidays and other major events can overlap! Trans folks celebrating their achievements and visibility does not take away from the Easter holiday or what it can mean to people. Some trans folks probably celebrated both and some cisgender folks probably celebrated with them. There is also the fact that Easter changes every year, whereas TDOV has been March 31st since its inception. There is a lot more into this but the short version is Easter is determined by the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox (the equinox always being March 21st for the purposes of calendars not being perfect even if the equinox is on the 19th or 20th). That’s a lot of steps to determine when a major religious holiday is, which is always why Easter can be anywhere from the end of March to the end of April. Needless to say the attempts by the people aiming to paint the trans community as an enemy of their flavor of Christianity were called out all across social media. Again, holidays and major events can be on the same day, celebrating one thing does not negate or take away from someone else celebrating a different thing, but be aware that disinformation like this can be very easy to fall into and do your best to read between the lines and be critical of the media you see or follow.
For any in our local trans community that want to partake in a post-TDOV day, we will be using our monthly GEAR group this month to have a Trans Day of Snack. So if you fall under the trans umbrella feel free to find our social media for more information and join us at the Center to relax, unwind, and have a snack or two.