Happy 20th Anniversary Trans Pride Flag!

Today is the 20th anniversary of the day that Monica Helms, while she was living in Arizona, created the original trans pride flag that now rests in the Smithsonian.

The flag is made up of five stripes.  Two baby blue, which represents the masculine and the traditional color of baby boys.   Two pink stripes represent the feminine as the traditional color of baby girls, and the white center stripe that represents gender non conforming and  folks who are transitioning.   

It is also designed so that no matter which way it is flown, it is always correct.   That symbolizes according to Helms, how we're always trying to find completeness in our lives.

On this same August 19 day in 2015, Helms donated the original trans pride flag to the Smithsonian where it was displayed at the last White House Pride Reception in June 2016.

That Helms Trans Pride flag first flew publicly at a pride parade in Phoenix, AZ in 2000 and since then has become over these last 20 years the widely accepted flag representing the international trans community .

That has been demonstrated by the creation of ginormous trans pride flags by groups in Mexico City and Palm Springs, CA which held the previous record for the largest trans pride flag ever created, and now the current record holders in Los Angeles 

That flag, created for the LA Resist pride march in June 2017 is 25 feet 6 inches by 160 feet  (7.8 meters by 48.7 meters).

Happy Trans Pride Flag day!     Thanks Sea Monica for being inspired to create it. 

Rep. Jennifer Wexton Displays Trans Pride Flag Outside Her DC Congressional Office

When you visit the House and Senate office buildings in Washington DC, in addition to having the nameplate of the representative or senator outside the entry door, there will also be an American flag, their state flag, and then sometimes a third flag of choice on a flagpole outside of the office.

Sometimes that third flag is one for the school they graduated from.  Some have the black POW flags, or the flag representing the branch of the military they served in.

Freshman Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) has a unique one hanging outside her Longworth House Office Building door.  It's the trans pride flag, and she may be the first congressmember to ever display it outside their congressional office door.

Abby Carter, Rep. Wexton's chief of staff, said that she displays the trans pride flag to make a personal statement about trans inclusion.   She the aunt to a trans child, and Del. Danica Roem is one of her Virginia 10th District constituents. 

"This is personal for me. We're talking about my family and friends,” Rep. Wexton said in a statement to NBC News. "I want everyone in the trans community to know that they are welcome and loved even in the face of this administration and its attacks on who they are."

"I didn’t think putting it up would be a big deal, but I've received a huge outpouring of support and appreciation from the LGBT community in the past two days," Wexton added. "We’ve been receiving messages from across the country and they've been telling me how much it means to them to see that in the halls of Congress.

It is a huge deal Rep. Wexton.    In a time when trans Americans have been under attack by the federal government and evilgelicals, and feel that their governments at any level don't care about them, to see that trans pride flag outside a congress member's office. 

Until trans people get elected to Congress, we will be dependent upon legislative allies to help push the policies and make the laws that make life better for trans Americans.

The next time I go to DC, I'm definitely stopping by to say hello and personally thank you for sending a message to everyone that either stops by your office or walks past it that trans lives matter.