International Transgender Day of Visibility 2019: History, Theme and Significance of This Day Dedicated to the Transexual
Transgender Day of Visibility is appreciably crucial as the observation of this day has already started changing many lives and mindsets.
International Transgender Day of Visibility is a day observed every year on March 31 since 2009. This day has been dedicated to celebrate the existence of transgender people all around the globe and to honour them for living openly and authentically while also to raise awareness of discrimination faced by the transgender people worldwide. Transgender people come from all spheres of life. They can be your colleagues, member of the family or someone living next door. They can be a 7-year-old child or a grandparent who has completed 70 years of his life. They represent all racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as faith being a diverse community. Every year on March 31 International Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated. It is time to celebrate transgender and non-binary people across the world and honour the strength it takes to live life to the fullest openly and with authenticity, and also making people aware of the biases faced by trans people all over the world. #TransLooksLikeThis Goes Viral on Twitter With Transgender People Are Sharing Their Experiences for Not Being ‘Trans Enough.’
History of International Transgender Day of Visibility
The holiday was founded by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009 as an answer to the lack of LGBT(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) holidays celebrating transgender people, pointing towards the reason causing frustration that the only well-known transgender-centred holiday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance which mourned the murders of transgender people, but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community.
Theme and Significance of International Transgender Day of Visibility 2019
This year Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) has the theme and hashtag #MoreThanVisibility. This year the world should think beyond visibility and move towards acceptance. Normalising the space of the transgender just like the rest of the people. Visibility is core to develop a culture and working environment that is inclusive in nature. Individuals will feel alone if transgender civil servants are shrouded in an organisation. The experiences of our transgender colleagues must be understood and monitored with greater visibility as an organisation. This day has been designated to the trans folks to show simply that it is OK to be transgender though time and again many of them have highlighted the fact that it is far from easy being trans people – not everyone is lucky enough to pass and not everybody still has their families standing by them. Some people have lost their partners, friends, homes and even jobs. Unastonishingly, the problems often faced by the trans people inevitably leads to mental health issues such as anxiety – sadly, in some scenarios, people, self-harm and all too often take their own lives because they are not getting the help and support that they need. It is estimated that around 40% of transgender people either take their lives or attempt to – a staggering statistic that needs to be addressed.
Transgender Day of Visibility is appreciably crucial as the observation of this day has already started changing many lives and mindsets. It’s not merely a special day for a group of people to celebrate their identity – but this day also speaks for itself on its own as a way to advance towards equality, to educate, and to highlight the unique difficulties trans people face.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2019 08:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).