Transphobia and Allyship on Trans Day of Visibility
March 31 marks Transgender Day of Visibility around the world. It was founded in 2009 by Rachel Crandall-Crocker, who used a Facebook post to encourage people to celebrate the rights and dignity of transgender people, instead of mourning them. At that time, Transgender Day of Remembrance, which marked the victims of murder, was the only formal day recognizing the community. In 2021, President Joe Biden issued the first-ever presidential proclamation marking Transgender Day of Visibility.
Today, the right-wing culture war that has taken aim at “wokeness,” the right to an abortion, and the teaching of history in schools has also targeted LGBTQ folks, and especially transgender people. There are currently at least 340 state-level legislative attacks on LGBTQ people, according to the Human Rights Campaign; 150 of them are specifically targeting transgender people—the largest number ever.
YES! presents a special roundtable discussion marking Transgender Day of Visibility hosted by Racial Justice and Civil Liberties Editor Sonali Kolhatkar for Rising Up With Sonali. Guests include Carl Charles, senior attorney in the Southern Regional Office of Lambda Legal located in Atlanta, Georgia; Ebony Harper, founder and executive director of California TRANScends; and Maebe A. Girl, a congressional candidate running for California’s 30th Congressional District.
The views expressed here and on Rising Up With Sonali do not necessarily reflect the opinion of YES! Media.
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