Opinion: My mixed feelings around Trans Day of Visibility

By Mabel Wellman. 

Every year, 31st March is Trans Day Of Visibility. This is a day to celebrate the incredible people in our community and the achievements we have made to society. Whether that be in fighting for the rights of all people in the LGBT community, such as Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P Johnson, or instead the major technological advances by Lynn Conway – who revolutionised computers and microchips so that it’s even possible for you to read this article. 

In “visibility “ we aim to fight stigma against trains people, because for every other day (and inevitably there will be some hateful articles or pieces churned out today), we have to fight a constant uphill battle against the media; governments; and just about anyone with a platform who may chose to frame us as being evil, perverted, or just unappetising. 

Trans Day Of Visibility is a day that stirs up a lot of mixed feelings for me – as I’m sure it will for many other trans people who are reading this. It was only this month that a ITV documentary about Brianna Ghey, a trans teenager who was brutally killed in a park in Warrington two years ago, was released, and with her death only two years ago it is something that is still fresh in our minds. 

Bathroom bans and restrictions also continue to cause misery to trans people, many of whom I know have to restrict how much they can participate in public life if they know they just will not have access to a safe restroom to use through the day. For myself and too many other trans women, this leaves you with the difficult decision on whether to use a restroom in line with your gender identity (and gamble whether your about to be thrown out somewhere), or use the men’s restroom and be risk being beaten up for being queer. In October of last year Butlin’s had to apologise after 5 transgender women were forcibly removed from a women’s restroom, despite the fact some cisgender women using the facilities were telling the security that their presence was not a problem.

This TDoV, we also face massive uncertainty with regards to our basic human rights in many parts of the world. This includes the USA, where a bill that could be passed in Texas could make trans people simply existing, face the penalty of a felony due to “fraud”. This extreme stance is something we will see more and more of as Trump’s presidency goes on, and it will not just affect the USA. American lobby groups (mainly Christian groups) have also been pressuring the UK for years with our own trans legislation and stances on our healthcare.

Being visible as a trans person is incredibly hard right now. But very soon being visible may not just be a protest against people who refuse to accept us. TDoV, will become more and more important as daring to be a visibly transgender person becomes a crime against the state. So whilst today a lot of us will be feeling downtrodden, it is so important that we find and solidify our communities with other trans people and allies; and prepare for the fight that’s coming. We need to remember that more cisgender people  are on our side and not against us; and that we can never give up whilst people try to take our rights and lives away.