I wanted to make a brief blog post on this Transgender Day of Visibility. I don’t really have anything insightful or useful to say that hasn’t already been said, but the entire purpose of the day is to ensure we are seen and not forgotten. This year has already been a difficult one, and let’s be honest, almost every year is difficult for trans people. But let’s not forget that they can never erase us. Being trans is a part of the human condition; as is being nonbinary or any other array of gender expressions. It is as natural as being cis, or gay, or straight, or intersex, or any other identity.
Remember that we will always exist. And remember that we have been through worse. Though we have never been so hypervisible before, we have been assailed as harshly before. Remember, there was once a time we were nothing more than the butt of jokes, targets of scorn and hatred. We are still all of that, but now we have something important: we have allies. Many may question if visibility is such a good idea, since it’s led to such widespread backlash, but remember; the only way to make people care about us is for them to know we exist.
So as we are attacked by the Trump administration, state governments, churches, and any other array of has-beens clinging onto a world that never existed in the first place, remember that this is the desperate gasp of a failed ideology. Remember that we have friends now. We no longer stand alone. For every government that comes after us, others rise to defend us. For every bigoted ‘activist’ hurling obscenities, two allies stand by our side. All of this is possible because we are visible now.
We exist. Anything is possible.