Each year between November 13 – 19, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility about transgender people and address issues members of the community face, according to GLAAD.

The week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility of transgender people and address issues members of the community face.

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence that year.

The city of Palm Springs has a long history of commemorating TDOR. The year 2017 was a historical year for the City of Palm Springs, as Transgender Community Coalition donated the first Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorial Cenotaph in memory of those transgender people that have been murdered and committed suicide due to a world that is not understanding nor accepting. This statue is the first of its kind and we thank everyone who participated in this inspiring event, showing your support for the transgender community.

This year will be no different. The Transgender Health and Wellness Center will host the Seventh Annual Official Transgender Day of Remembrance at Palm Springs City Hall, at 5 p.m. on Nov. 20th.

What is Transgender Awareness Week?
Transgender Awareness Week is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the community by educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around the issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community.

What is Transgender Day of Remembrance?
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was founded by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor her memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence that year and began an important memorial that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Participate in TDOR by attending or organizing a vigil on November 20 to honor all those whose lives were lost to anti-transgender violence that year.  Vigils are typically hosted by local transgender advocates or LGBTQ organizations, and held at community centers, parks, places of worship and other venues. The vigil often involves reading a list of the names of those who died that year.

What is GLAAD doing this year for Trans Awareness Week?
This year for Transgender Awareness Week, GLAAD is encouraging everyone to watch the documentary DISCLOSURE on Netflix. The feature from director Sam Feder and executive producer Laverne Cox explores the history of trans representation in TV and film in unprecedented form, revealing how Hollywood simultaneously reflects and manufactures people’s deepest anxieties about gender.

Given that 80% Americans believe they have never personally met someone who is transgender, that means the majority of the public’s education and awareness about this community has been informed by more than a century’s worth of media which has overwhelmingly misrepresented and mischaracterized who trans people are–significantly influencing public perceptions, policy, and attitudes about the trans community.

Nick Adams, the Director of Transgender Representation at GLAAD and a consulting producer on DISCLOSURE, who is also featured in the film adds: “Often this is true of trans people as well. We don’t know a trans person when we’re trying to figure out who we are. So we’re looking to the media.”

Through personal interviews with 30 transgender thought leaders on screen and a production model that prioritized hiring trans people into crewed positions–offering fellowship opportunities when that wasn’t possible, DISCLOSURE invites viewers to see the dynamic interplay between trans representation on screen, the resulting cultural attitudes off-screen, and real-world consequences of these depictions on trans people’s lives as told revolutionarily from trans people’s own experiences and perspectives.

 

Image Sources

  • Transgender Awareness Week: Shutterstock