Trans Day of Visibility is March 31 this and every year since 2009, even if the transphobic political right — never a group to let facts stand in the way of hate — would have all of us believe it was created by President Biden to eclipse Easter back in 2024.
In actuality, it was created by trans activist, and Executive Director of Transgender Michigan, Rachel Crandall. It is a kind of spiritual counterpoint to the much more somber Trans Day of Remembrance and has traditionally been a day to celebrate trans joy and success in a society much more accustomed to seeing us characterized as deceptive, immoral and dangerous.
However, we in the trans community are now struggling with the reality that visibility has also brought heightened scrutiny and accompanying insecurity as it has equally strengthened the resolve of those who want to limit, if not outright destroy us.
Visibility, when it is stripped of understanding and respect for our dignity, is deadly. What good is it if everyone else is not sure what they see is even worth living? It becomes very difficult to maintain happiness and good mental health when a parent tells us they’d rather we were dead than be trans or your president warns of “transgender for everyone” as if it were the next worst thing to an infectious zombie virus threatening to take away the humanity of your loved ones.
And what happens when we look in the mirror and become convinced of those lies ourselves? Too many of us have chosen the peace of nothingness over being something everyone seemingly hates.
More alarming is that these attacks on our humanity are coming increasingly from cis people on the political left. California governor and potential 2028 Democrat presidential candidate Gavin Newsom was recently interviewed by Katie Couric after the fallout of a previous statement he made that Dems should be more “culturally normal” to attract more voters. “Culturally normal” doing the heavy lifting of standing in for pronouns, trans youth medical care, trans women’s bathroom use and other trans issues.
Pressed by Katie over his opposition to trans women in sports, he pointed to his past record supporting trans rights, while conveniently forgetting his veto of a bill this past October that would have provided a critical safety net to trans health care in California. After burnishing his dubious credentials to Katie, he voiced his opposition to trans inclusion in sports by citing the case of two trans women “displacing” women by winning in California track and field high school sports in the previous two years.
We probably should not have expected more from a person who welcomed Charlie Kirk on his podcast by mentioning his son was a big fan, was married to Don Jr.’s former fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, once had an affair with his campaign manager’s wife and presents like an extra from “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Newsom’s statement clearly revealed that he does not believe trans women are real women. How else could he logically state that trans women are displacing women in sports?
Setting aside that it is unfair to allow trans people to compete only if we never win or that we exist in such miniscule numbers that it would be impossible for us to meaningfully displace anyone, why was so much attention placed on two high school athletes? Why has so much attention been placed nationwide on even the most minor trans victories? Why are cis female athletes bowing out of matchups with trans women even in sports where they regularly compete against men?
The answer of course is that it weaponizes the current high visibility of trans people for media attention, money and votes. It is done cynically either to personally enrich or advance political careers and causes.
At this point, I wish we were far less visible. It is a rare day where I don’t see an article or quote debating the most basic functions of our lives. Whether we have the right to exist before we turn 18, compete on the field of play with cisgender people, find the life-saving medical care we require to exist, or even use the bathroom in peace.
I never thought that hitting a softball on my women’s team and then peeing in the ladies room between innings would become the most important issue of the day over war, the economy or pedophiles running our government.
However, if the cis community cannot let go of their obsession with us, then I can think of one space where trans people need to be MORE visible. It is galling that numerous political careers, thousands of inches of newsprint and lucrative pundit gigs on Fox News have been created on our backs without a commensurate opportunity for pushback from us.
It is here where our allies can help most by making sure we are included. Where they can use their access to these spaces to step aside and let us be truly visible as the flesh and blood human beings that we are instead of scary abstract concepts that can somehow be debated out of existence.
Even so, we will stubbornly continue to exist even if some in the cis community decide we shouldn’t. That they thought we needed to be eradicated should haunt those cis people for generations to come as a shameful time when their ugly bigotry ruled the day. I myself hope to live to see that far off future where Trans Day of Visibility will be seen only as something to celebrate, not as an excuse to hate.
Melody Maia Monet has her own trans lesbian themed YouTube channel at YouTube.com/MelodyMaia.
