Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) is an annual international celebration of trans pride and awareness, that is dedicated to celebrating Transgender and Gender Diverse communities and raising awareness of the stigma and discrimination faced. In addition to this, the purpose of the day is also to celebrate our communities by being visible and proud. 

Lack of visibility as well as stigma and discrimination can be a major hurdle to overcome but with acceptance and understanding from society it can be done. Many Transgender & Gender Diverse people live happy and healthy lives since overcoming this barrier.

Trans Day of Visibility was started in 2009. Activist Rachel Crandall started the day in reaction to the lack of recognition of trans people, as the only other trans day of note was Transgender Day of Remembrance which centres around mourning rather than celebrating all of amazing community.


TDOV was created as a day to acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community. International Transgender Day of Visibility has been held on March 31 since then!
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Being visibly trans needs to be a safe option for all trans people.
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Credit: Transhub - www.transhub.org.au

Transgender Day of Visibility

Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual observance on March 31st that is dedicated to celebrating Transgender and Gender Diverse communities and raising awareness of the stigma and discrimination faced. In addition to this, the purpose of the day is also to celebrate our communities by being visible and proud. Lack of visibility as well as stigma and discrimination can be a major hurdle to overcome but with acceptance and understanding from society it can be done. Many Transgender & Gender Diverse people live happy and healthy lives since overcoming this barrier.

Transgender Day of Visibility Campaign
Claire (She/Her):
Something I was told early in my journey; transgender pride is not just about pride in being transgender. It is about having pride in ourselves. Transgender Day of Visibility is an important day for this very reason. While we have been around for centuries, we are still not seen as normality in society. This day allows the wider community to see, yes, we exist. But more importantly for all transgender people, there are many who support us in the cisgender community. We are bombarded with transphobia and hate daily, as well as government attempts to take away our rights. TDOV is an opportunity for us to continue to raise awareness and push for positive change to normalize transgender people in the community.

I am proud of who I am and have worked hard to be who I am today. I spent 13 years in the army and came out while still serving. I am currently studying sports science to work towards better inclusion of us in sports, as well as educating healthcare professionals about trans healthcare and WPATH.
I am also using my experience with voice feminization training as a patient to spread awareness and hopefully encourage more studying speech pathologists to train in voice modification therapy, as there are so few providers in our country. I will continue to do what I can to help our community gain better acceptance and inclusion in society.
Marti (She/Her):
I believe being visible as a Transgender person and as a Police Officer is especially important as it continues to show progression and acceptance within the modern society that we live in, where anything is possible.
While there is still so much work to be done in building a safe environment for transgender and gender diverse persons. We must all continue to work as one bring about a positive change in the future.
Melissia (She/Her):
My name is Melissia Rose Kelly, I am a proud 75 year old Transgender (Transexual) Woman.
As a boy, I was forced to grow up to live my life as a male and it wasn’t until after the loss of my wife of 44 years that I realised and found out I could do something about why and how I felt the way I did and saw a Dr and was referred to Sexual Health Clinic Cairns in 2019 and began HRT with oestrogen and testosterone blockers and now am very happy with my new life.

Transgender Day of Visibility to me is a day when we have the chance to show the non-trans, (cis), population that we are not the evil, sexual deviates, abominations in the eyes of certain gods or weird people some believe us to be, but are the normal caring people we are, who want to live our lives as the gender we believe we should have been born as.
Dylan (He/Him):
As a Brotherboy, visibility is always important.
Transgender Day of Visibility is the perfect day to stand proud in my gender identity and my Culture
DJ Beksis (She/Her):
Being visible as a transgender person is important to me, because I know it gives other trans people strength and confidence to be who they really are.
Stef (She/her):
Transgender day of visibility to me is a celebration of how far we come and a show of strength.

Having visibility in the community for me is important as I feel we need to be seen as part of the community instead of something else.

I work in the construction industry and I hope in some way I can bring visibility to an industry that is predominantly male-based, and push the gender roles to show that trans, gender diverse people and queer people can and do deserve to be there.
Petra Jade (He/Him):
Community radio dj and transactivist Petra Svetlana Jade (he/him pronouns) has been independently curating and producing radio for the ‘non-binary and psych-diagnosed’ of the world on Zed Digital since 2019. On air known as DJ Orchard, he has amplified the voices of the trans community, raising awareness of how trans identity is often publicly erased by record label execs. Approaching their 40th birthday this year, the hospitality veteran has recently pivoted their career path, and is now working as a trauma specialist using HICAT (holistic integrated creative arts therapy). Passionate about dance and music therapy, the self-taught dancer is often to be spied about town dancing to music like no-one’s watching.
Petra Jade is active in the transfeminist community and being a scorpio is good at flying under the radar and keeping to the shadows. Fierce about supporting rape survivors of all genders, Petra is also a shaman and radical environmentalist determined to make a difference in a marxist-anarchist way, from the ground up.

What TDOV means to me:
Being Eurasian gypsy and a trafficking survivor, who doesn’t consent to being filmed for spiritual reasons, Trans Day of Visibility is an opportunity for recognition in a video-saturated world. For me, TDoV gives voice to the misgendered and showcases our diversity as a
community.
Emily Wells (pronouns: she/her)
Emily is a trans woman living in Mount Isa. Emily has been recognised at Queensland’s annual Trans Community Awards for her visibility, advocacy, and activist work. In 2018 Emily was awarded Ms Trans for her visibility and work in raising trans awareness. In 2020 Emily was awarded the Queensland Rural/Regional Trans Activist of the Year for her work in raising the unique issues faced by transgender people living in the bush, and for her volunteer work with trans children, youth and their families. Emily is currently working for Queensland Health as the Manager HR Services at North West Hospital Health Service.

What does TDOV mean to me?
From attending the Cairns Pride to getting our little trans and gender diverse group in the North-West together and having a BBQ in the park. It’s visibly fun being visible, but it’s also been a hard year to be visible. Lately, the attack on trans and gender diverse people seems to be coming from everywhere – from the religious Discrimination Bill to public debate around trans women participating in sport, to children having access to trans health care – I’m actually a little bit burnt out! When I have told some of my friends that I'm a little bit over being visible, and I am often asked the question in return, "Then why be visible?"

Sometimes I truly wish I weren’t, and then I remember that the visibility of other trans people has helped to alleviate some of the stress and pressure in my own coming out and transitioning journey. While it is just one day a year, TDOV is so incredibly important for other trans people because they can see that they can be their true self. I know from my own journey that my own visibility can help someone else to navigate through their own transition journey. For cisgender people, especially parents and guardians, visibility of trans people is important for them to see that it is okay and perfectly normal and acceptable for their child, or other children in their lives, to be transgender.

So, what is Transgender Day of Visibility to me? Well, it’s just about being you!