Or rather, “Transgender Day of Visibility,” a day set aside to raise visibility of the “T” part of our community. An important day, given that even inside the queer community, transgender men and women are still often treated as second-class, or sometimes no-class by gay men and women who don’t want Ts “hijacking” their own civil rights fight — an argument we find, frankly, ridiculous. And while many of us are self-taught experts on all things gay issues and politics, we’re lacking in our transgender education.
TransGender Michigan founder Rachel Crandall is credited with starting Transgender Day of Visibility. Around the country, there are events popping up here and there.
Explains Wayne State University philosophy professor Dr. John Corvino on the importance of standing alongside our Ts:
Our discomfort around the issue—I know I’m not alone in this—means that we’ve got some learning to do. Bravo to those trans people willing to come out and teach us.
Some gay people wonder why we get lumped with the transgender community at all. Sexual orientation is one thing, they say, and gender identity is another.
That’s true as far as it goes, and perhaps it’s better to talk about our overlapping communities than about a single GLBT community.
Still, the alliance makes sense insofar as both (overlapping) groups suffer from rigid social expectations about sex and gender. Compare “If you’re born biologically male, you should grow up to be a man” with “If you’re born biologically male, you should grow up to love a woman.” The similarities between the two inferences seem to outweigh the differences.
Now all we need is a branding expert to come in, design a logo and a website, and get a spokesperson on Rachel Maddow‘s show.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Tara
Hu, I did not even know about this.
sal
happy transgender day y’all!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Izzik
Yay! Happy transgender day. When do we get to be on postage stamps?
sparkle obama
well i would like to see more of miss candis kane.
she’s right for a remake of gore vidal’s ‘myra breckinridge’ as the movie-mad he-she who cuts a swath thru 1960s hollywood, intent on de-manning the male population & founding a new world of “fun-loving amazons”…
candis in the raquel welch role of course
with madonna as mae west & paris hilton as farrah.
robin williams in the john huston role as the head of the dram school
porn’s michael lucas (dubbed by sean hayes) can do the rex reed role, as myra’s pre-sex change phantom alter ego.
music by lady bunny, miss kier, courtney love & debbie harry