Today is International Day of Transgender Visibility! 🏳️⚧️ As you may know, TDOV is an annual international celebration of transgender pride and awareness, recognising transgender and gender diverse experiences and achievements.
This year we wanted to amplify the voice of our incredible Lived Experience speaker Sebastian, check out what he had to say about why today is so important.
What does Transgender Day of Visibility mean to you and why is it important?
“Transgender Day of Visibility is important to me, as a trans person, to see the achievements and experiences of people like me all over the world. The representation, seeing people like me, and what we can do is such an uplifting and morale boosting day to continue on a road that isn’t always easy (it isn’t always difficult either) towards being a more authentic person externally and being true to who I know I am.
Not everyone is in a position to have a trans elder role model in their community, let alone be that role model. I know I certainly didn’t have someone like me to look up to when I was growing up, which is why TDOV is especially important for younger trans folk to see trans elders and what we can accomplish.
It’s just as important for trans elders to be recognised for their contributions and accomplishments not just by the trans community, but the global community, too.
We’re people who need representation, too. And until accurate representation in media is commonplace worldwide, TDOV is a great way to celebrate our community and the victories we have had along the way.
In saying this, it is also a day to educate others. Transgender Day of Visibility not only highlights our wins, it highlights our struggles also.
The broader community is often unaware of the laws and legislation that negatively impact us and our youth, how to use different pronouns, and how to support the trans people in their lives.
For me, the biggest issues I face is not being able to change the gender marker on my documentation to match my identity which makes it unsafe for me to travel internationally due to damaging laws around transgender peoples in other countries.”
Thank you Sebastian, for sharing your thoughts with our community, we really appreciate you.