Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Every Day Should Be An International Transgender Day Of Visibility

March 31 was the third annual observance of what its sponsor hopes becomes a counterbalance to the Transgender Day of Remembrance in November  

There are a few people who have expressed their concerns that the TDOR is 'too somber' in their words or have issues with it being the one day that the media seems to focus on our community.

But my belief is that every day should be an international trans day of visibility.  We need to have the cis public see more out and proud transpeople doing mundane things like playing sports, attending church, running for public office, working and running businesses...

You know, just living our lives. 

We definitely need to do so as we make the push around the world to have our human rights respected,  protected and codified in to laws with teeth for violations of them.   As we struggle to get the lawmakers of the various nations we inhabit to pass those laws, one thing we must do is let those legislators know we exist. It's hard for legislators to discriminate against someone they see or hear from on a regular basis, lives in their district, and you let know votes and has a sphere of influence around them that does the same..


It's even more important to be visible to counter the falsehoods and lies pimped by our right wing opp9nents and the fundamentalist strains of various religions.

And yes, for every person that's proudly living their lives, you give strength and courage to people who may be a little reticent about doing the same. 

So yes, every day should be an international trans day of visibility.   We need to strive for that in order to honor the sisters we have lost around the world who fell victim to anti-transgender hate violence. 

But never forget we are part of the diverse mosaic of human life, and we need not be ashamed of that.  The people who are opposing us do.
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