Trans Day of Visibility, 2024
Guest post by CG Brothers, DEIJ Committee Chair for AFSCME Local 328
Content Warning: transphobic violence
I’ve spent several weeks thinking about how to write a blog post for the International Transgender Day of Visibility. For anyone that hasn’t been paying attention, trans people are at the target of a culture war perpetrated by small-minded and reactionary people. Just last month a 16 year old named Nex Benedict was beaten to within an inch of their life at school. By their classmates. And the school administrators failed to call an ambulance. Nex died the next day and the cause of death was ruled a suicide.
And another 21 year old, Alex Taylor-Franco, was kidnapped, shot and killed, and their body left in the desert. Diamond Bergman, a 36 year old black trans woman was murdered in Houston. If you google “anti-trans violence” you get report after report of an “epidemic” of anti trans violence. Or you get reports of how violence against trans people is on the rise. I believe the latest statistics say that trans people are four times more likely to be underfed than their cisgender peers.
All the while, states across the country are making decisions that fly in the face of modern medical science. They’re claiming that the scourge of trans “gender ideology” will cause irreversible damage to the children. Worth noting that there’s no evidence to show that being trans causes any harm to children. It’s actually only the explicit rejection of being trans that causes harm. State after state is working to legislate away the rights and safety of trans people. Even just recently reports from the Biden Administration say that despite promises since 2021, the president won’t strengthen protections for trans people. Apparently our basic human rights are “too much of a hot button topic for an election year.”
And it’s in light of all of this harm that I don’t want to make a post about proudly being trans. Instead I want to stay inside and hide and keep myself safe. I want to keep my head down. It’s hard to be proud and visible when being proud and visible means you’re more likely to be murdered. Just because someone else thinks you existing is disgusting.
It’s with that sentiment that I realize why visibility is so important. Because I personally know one trans person that is over 40 years old. So many of us don’t have the privilege or luxury to make it to 40. Whether it’s suicide, murder, accidental overdose, police violence, or something else, trans people so rarely make it beyond 40. I didn’t have an older trans person to ask for help or look to for guidance.
That’s why International Transgender Day of Visibility is important. Because I’m not visible for me. It’s for the trans kids that deserve to know that being trans is not a crime. Trans is beautiful. Trans is radical. Trans is revolutionary. Trans is human. If I can help one trans kid understand that they’re worthy of love and tenderness, then being visible is worth it.
If you’re a cisgender person and you still don’t “get the transgender thing,” do a damn google search. We’ve been here for thousands of years, we’ll continue to be here until the end of time.
My name is CG Brothers. I am proudly transgender. I demand to be seen as such.