 News For You!
Transgender Day of Visibility
To be transgender is to chase joy fiercely. It is taking time to find your people, build your chosen family, and choose joy in a world that desperately wants trans people to not exist.
To be transgender is to be creative. It is seeing yourself as your own customizable creation, as a body and soul to decorate, love, and obsess over… as difficult or dysphoric as it may be.
To be transgender is to be resistant. It is seeing the world as it is and saying, “I know that I am something different than what I have been told.”
To be transgender is to show up authentically with yourself. It is knowing deep down that you know yourself better than anyone.
To be transgender is to be brave.
Transgender (Trans) Day of Visibility takes place on March 31st every year. This is a day of international celebration of trans people. This day is intended to uplift the awareness of the unique struggles trans people face. It is a day of hope, frustration, grief, and joy. A day of remembrance and attention to the disproportionate levels of violence, poverty, homelessness, and discrimination that trans people face.
In sitting down to write this, two trans Office of Equity staff members discussed how visibility does not necessarily bring protection, especially for our trans sisters. They shared with each other about the weight of other people’s hate that they carry. They talked about bold hate and passive hate; how different parts of the United States share their views of trans people in different ways. They talked about the 42 states that are actively trying to pass or have passed laws to take away trans people’s “basic healthcare, education, legal recognition, and the right to publicly exist.” They explored how transness looks like different things to different people, how some of the trans community cannot truly be themselves because it is not safe for them to do so.
Trans Day of Visibility is complicated in the trans community. On one hand, in trans and queer spaces it can be a time for joy and celebration. There are gatherings of resistance, remembrance, and explosions of dancing and laughter. On the other hand, it is a time to remember how not all trans people can or want to be visible. It can be a time where people are bitter about their visibility, reminding them of how they wish they could just blend in. That their identity is so politicized and vilified without their consent. That they do not have access to the care they need.
We must acknowledge that on this Transgender Day of Visibility the trans community is grieving. On March 13th, only a few weeks ago, one of our trans sisters lost her life. Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, a Black transgender woman and drag performer, was shot and killed in Petersburg, Virginia. She is the first known trans person to have been murdered in 2026. She was a visible title holder and had won many pageants with her unabashed creativity. Thank you, Shyyell, for your beautiful soul and heart.
Our hope as the Washington State Office of Equity is that Trans Day of Visibility is a day where cisgender allies can take a moment to recognize and uplift the trans people in their life. To recognize their contributions as people - as friends, as family, as coworkers. People who live, love, work, and contribute to society alongside everyone else.
The Washington State Office of Equity believes in creating a space where everyone belongs, regardless of their gender presentation. Our hope is that this day becomes a day where everyone belongs and gets the care they desperately need. Our hope is that Trans Day of Visibility is a day where we can look on hate as a thing of the past.
Resources
We want to thank the RAIN Business Resource Group (BRG), who held a Trans Day of Visibility gathering this past month. We encourage trans, queer, and LGBTQ+ state employees to participate in this BRG if they are needing support and a place to fully be themselves.
If you have experienced or witnessed a hate crime or bias incident, we encourage you to report it here.
We encourage you to check out the LGBTQ+ Resources on our Washington for All website. Want to share resources with us? Submit through the Share Your Resources! link.
Make sure to visit the Rainbow Resource Hub, put together by the Washington State LGBTQ Commission. You can also find more resources and information specifically about 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth here.
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