Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility.

This day was first established by Rachel Crandall-Crocker on March 31st, 2009.

The main objectives for this day is for us to celebrate transgender people and our contributions to society, recognize our successes, acknowledge our milestones and raise awareness for the work we still need to do to fight the discrimination and violence that our community still faces.

In an interview posted on them.us with Samantha Allen last year, Rachel talked about how she wanted a day for us to celebrate being alive as opposed to simply mourning our dead on Transgender Day of Remembrance.

She did go on to talk about how a day celebrating visibility is a double-edged sword. On one hand, being visible can be inspiring as we celebrate each other and recognize each other, while on the other, it can be dangerous, making us vulnerable to attacks.

Being visible opens up the potential to be both a beacon of hope and inspiration or a bullseye for hate and bigotry.

As a mixed-race immigrant to Canada, I was born and raised in the Philippines, with very limited access to education around sexuality and gender identity. I grew up in an all-girls Catholic school where we tended to date each other while basically assuming we’d “straighten out” after high school, when we’d be going to college or university around boys.

In the early 2010’s, we still had very little representation, and what little we had was problematic. I clung to the awkwardly written coming out/outing storyline of Santana Lopez on Glee and it gave me the strength to come out to my family in 2011 (and wind up spending a year regularly seeing a conversion therapist, but that’s a whole other story).

It was basically a decade later when I finally allowed myself to come to terms with my gender identity. After years of being in denial, of telling myself being gender nonconforming, being a butch/masc lesbian was enough, I finally allowed myself to say that I am a trans man.

It was so inspiring to see other trans people posting on instagram and youtube and facebook, sharing their stories, telling us about their lives and their transitions. Seeing them live their lives and find a way to thrive gave me hope and helped me find the strength to come out to myself, to my loved ones, to the people around me.

I’m on the threshold of being one year into my HRT journey and seeing my body change has been a blessing.

Just as being as visible as I am now has been a privilege.

While being visible still puts me at risk, I’m in an environment and a headspace where I feel safe enough to be seen. That may not be everyone’s goal, but I’ve personally found validation and strength in being here.

I honestly don’t know how much longer it would have taken me to come out to myself, or if I even actually would have, if I had stayed in the Philippines. There’s still so much work to be done. It’s essentially impossible for me to legally change my first name and my gender marker in my Philippine documents. There’s no existing government support for gender-affirming care in the Philippines. There was constant backlash over proposed bills to stop discrimination based on sexuality and gender identity.

More work needs to be done. In the Philippines and in the rest of the world. A lot of media has talked about the anti-trans bills being proposed in the United States of America. Canada only JUST banned conversion therapy. Europe still has countries that put up excessive barriers that make the process for updating legal documents a long and invasive process. Refusing to conform to gender norms and the gender binary is still illegal in multiple Middle Eastern countries.

There’s still so much work to do, but I pride myself in being part of a community that will keep fighting until all of us are safe.

For now, I want to be the person I wished I could see when I was a teenager. I want to be the trans guy I could have looked up to and could help me navigate the world of gender identity, masculinity and sexuality.

That’s why I’m here, documenting my transition and sharing my experiences with you.

Today, take a moment to celebrate the transgender community, consume media that highlights us, look for us sharing our stories on social media and take action where you can to help us in our fight to have the right to thrive.

FILMS, EVENTS AND PROJECTS HIGHLIGHTING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE and our community

DISCLOSURE - a documentary on Netflix highlighting how trans people have been depicted in film and television, showcasing trans people in the industry
More than a Name: A Shifting Recognition of Transgender People Across the Globe - Initially a documentary highlighting issues in Germany’s legislation for trans people, the project expanded to showing the stories and struggles of trans people worldwide
OBIE is Man Enough - a book by Schuyler Bailar about a young trans swimmer
Schuyler Bailar’s Support Groups - Schuyler has multiple support groups like the Trans Masc Support Group, the Trans Masc POC Support Group, the LGBTQ+ Support Group and the Trans+ Support Group
Stealth Bros & Co - a Dopp Kit supply company that not only sells storage for medical supplies but also shares relevant and educational posts in their social media
The Dress Code Project - a global alliance of salons and shops committed to providing gender-affirming services and creating a safer, more inclusive environment

This is definitely not an extensive list and I encourage you to comment and share more projects, events, films, etc that you think deserve more of a spotlight.

Trans Creators Who I think Are Cool

Schuyler Bailar - an athlete with a Cognitive Neuroscience and Evolutionary Psychology degree from Harvard
Devon Spears - a bodybuilder who shares information and advice around fitness and nutrition
Mac McGregor - an engineer with some hella relatable content on tiktok
Sage - a nonbinary creator with a lot of insightful things to say in their content
Aliyah - an activist fighting for her intersecting communities as a transgender Muslim woman
Vincent - a creator who shares a lot of resources and talks about his experience as a trans man living in the Philippines

This is also not an extensive, exhaustive list. I want to highlight more creators in other posts and also want to hear from you and who are other trans folks we should follow.

let us be visible for those who are not safe enough to be visible

FILMS, EVENTS AND PROJECTS HIGHLIGHTING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE and our community

Trans Creators Who I think Are Cool

References

let us be visible for those who are not safe enough to be visible

FILMS, EVENTS AND PROJECTS HIGHLIGHTING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE and our community

Trans Creators Who I think Are Cool

References

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