Trans Awareness Week

There’s an old question among older queers: did we go through everything we did, fight for our rights, for our identity, for our existence, just so that kids can slip between labels, change the language, and replace all of our identities with something new? And the answer is: yes, of course, that’s exactly why we did it! Transgender Awareness Week, which runs from 13-19 November this year, is the perfect time to celebrate the diversity, joy, jubilation, and exploration that is present today in the trans and gender diverse community.

The transgender day of remembrance was first declared in 1999, in honour of the memories of Rita Hester, Chanelle Pickett, and Monique Thomas, three transgender women of colour who were murdered in the US. It was a day of mourning, to recognise the dangers and difficulties face by gender diverse person, and to honour those who had faced violence, and been killed, for living as themselves.

Transgender Awareness Week was introduced in 2017 as a way of not only acknowledging the difficulties face by trans people, but also to celebrate our lives; to recognise the joy we experience as well as the hardship we can face.

Lately, it has been hard to ignore stories of crackdowns against transgender people around the world. The headlines scream at us about “men invading women’s sports”, or declaring us all to be homophobes. Gender affirming care is being restricted and denied to our trans siblings, and some of us overseas may even face criminal charges for living as our authentic selves. Even in Australia, there is a backlash against trans rights in the “anti-woke” movement, and recently the Queensland government put a halt to medical gender affirming care for individuals under 18 years of age. We’ve faced culture wars at a federal and state level. Here at Q Psychology, we talk daily to people struggling to live as their authentic selves at home, work, study, and in the community.

However, there have also been advances in queer and trans rights, in Italy, Thailand, Liechtenstein and Argentina – and even in the Vatican! There’s been court wins in Australia, and refutation by the medical community of the arguments used to limit gender affirming care. There’s plenty to celebrate, with events and clubs all across Australia. For those of us in Victoria, Transgender Victoria, the Pride Centre, and a whole lot of other organisations have plenty going on, including film nights, book clubs, parties, shopping excursions, online meetups and more. There will also be a vigil held on Transgender Remembrance Day, to recognise those of who have faced discrimination, abuse, and violence.

If you’d like to know what’s on there’s a great site at Trans Month detailing things to do and ways to get involved: https://www.transmonth.org.au/