Guides: A Guide to Transgender Day of Visibility : Home

About the Guide 💁🏽

This guide acts as a readers' advisory and provides a variety of resources to assist both trans-identifying and trans allies in celebrating International Transgender Day of Visibility.

What is Trans Day of Visibility? 👓

International Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated each year on March 31st. This day is observed both by the transgender community and its supporters in celebration of transgender individuals, history, and progress. The day also marks as an awareness campaign against the discrimination of transgender people across the globe by bringing us visibly forward to foster change and acceptance for the human beings we are.

Mapping Attacks on LGBTQ Rights in U.S. State Legislatures
In the last few years states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ rights, especially transgender youth. The ACLU is tracking these attacks and working with our national network of affiliates to support LGBTQ people everywhere.
Trans Rights Are Women's Rights
Here’s why the rights of trans people are at the heart of gender justice for all.
FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Advances Equality and Visibility for Transgender Americans
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration recognizes Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual celebration of the resilience, achievements, and joy of transgender people in the United States and around the world. Every American deserves the freedom to be themselves. But far too many transgender Americans still face systemic barriers, discrimination, and acts of violence. Today, the Administration once again condemns the proliferation of dangerous anti-transgender legislative attacks that have been introduced and passed in state legislatures around the country. The evidence is clear that these types of bills stigmatize and worsen the well-being and mental health of transgender kids, and they put loving and supportive families across the country at risk of discrimination and harassment. As the President has said, these bills are government overreach at its worst, they are un-American, and they must stop.
Human Rights Campaign Celebrates Transgender Day of Visibility 2022
Transgender and non-binary people face countless challenges—and through it all, they have continued to fight for visibility, share their stories and organize for lived and legal equality. Transgender and non-binary people are our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, our family, and our loved ones. As we celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility, we must continue to shine a light on the epidemic of violence impacting Black and Brown transgender women and the discriminatory, dangerous bills being pushed through state legislatures around the country - bills that could prevent schools from being safe for trans and non-binary students, prevent trans student-athletes from playing sports, cut off access to age-appropriate, medically-necessary health care, and more. While these developments are frightening, we have a deep, confident hope that together we can defeat these attacks and move forward to a more equitable world for transgender and non-binary people.” Joni Madison, Human Rights Campaign Interim President
World Economic Forum Affiliate Session on Corporate Allyship in Davos: “A pride flag once a year is not enough.”
Each year, business and political leaders from around the world gather in Davos, Switzerland, to attend The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. This year, a WEF affiliate session on the topic of “Coming Out as a Public LGBTQ Corporate Ally” was organized by Accenture, GLAAD, Open for Business, and the Partnership for Global LGBTQI Equality.

Representation Matters! 📜

In its examination of transgender representation on Television, the organization GLAAD found that since 2002, 102 episodes of scripted television featured trans characters and/or storylines. Of those 102 episodes, 54% were categorized as containing negative representations, 35% were categorized as problematic and a mere 12% were categorized as groundbreaking or accurate trans representation (Victims or Villains, n.d.).

The GLAAD examination also found that 40% of transgender characters were cast in a victim role and 21% were cast as killers or villains. In terms of profession, 20% of transgender characters were given the role of sex worker. In regards to language, 62% of the episodes cataloged featured anti-transgender slurs, language, and dialogue.

In GLAADs 17th annual report, Where We Are On Tv, which tracked representation from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, they found that there were 42 regular/recurring trans characters across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms. Of those 42 characters, 20 are trans women, 14 are trans men and 8 are non-binary trans (Gardner, 2022).

References

Gardner, C. (February 17, 2022). GLAAD: Broadcast TV now features a record number of LGBTQ characters. The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/lgbtq-tv-characters-glaad-report-2022-1235094632/

Victims or Villains: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television. (n.d.). GLAAD. https://www.glaad.org/publications/victims-or-villains-examining-ten-years-transgender-images-television

A Guide to Transgender Day of Visibility

Original Author: Natasha Verdugo 📚

LGBTQIA+ Organizations 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Author

About the Guide 💁🏽

What is Trans Day of Visibility? 👓

Representation Matters! 📜