Transgender Awareness Week
November 13 through 19, 2024
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I’m not sure who plans these calendar items, and I don’t even know whether to be happy or suspicious about the timing. Here in the US we just survived our first week post-election, and a lot of us are feeling shell shocked. And—I’m gonna be brutally honest—I didn’t even know it was about to be Transgender Awareness Week. Big high five to the other folx out there who posted about it in advance so I don’t look like a total dufus, like that time both my wife and I forgot about our anniversary until about a week later, and we both realized we had forgotten at the same time, and we both felt pretty silly having messed that up.
If you didn’t know this was Transgender Awareness Week, hey, I got you. Heads up, November 20th is also Transgender Day of Remembrance. Mark your calendar. Or maybe get a tattoo so this doesn’t happen to you every year like it does to me.
Note to self, get a tattoo.
But Robin, you’re saying, the trans community is suffering right now. We’re grieving. We’re feeling targeted and isolated and attacked and abandoned, and some of us don’t even feel like being visible.
I hear you. So let’s cover some ground rules.
You’re an amazing person. If you’re out and proud, I love it. It looks great on you! If you’re closeted and quiet, I’ve got you. Many of us have been there. I have been there. If you’re stealth, you have all of my respect and caring. If you’re too queer to hide but still feeling terrified, I am too. There is no one way to be trans or human, and wherever you are I hope you are safe first, proud second, and hopeful third.
If you’re in the US or the UK, you might be feeling some very real pressure to vanish, to relocate, or at least to hide in response to the big political changes happening around you. These things might make you feel like showing up this week could endanger you. Please don’t. I care about your safety above all other things.
Maybe you’re a bit like me—slightly defiant and occasionally reckless and frequently headstrong. I happen to think those are epic qualities, and I suddenly like you even more than I did before! Friends, this is your week to shine!
You might be tired and drained and in need of rest and recovery. Maybe I can give you a little shelter here. This space will always be held safe for you. Pinky promise.
It’s also possible that you feel a mixture of emotions right now. That’s cool. I like emotionally complex people. I’m glad you’re here.
This crowd has a lot of really wonderful allies in it. Some of you are also feeling a lot of these same things, and there is space for you here. You could choose to be a lot of different places right now, but you’re here, and that feels great. This is also your week to shine, or be quiet, or hide, or wave a pride flag. I’ve got you, too.
I’m not going anywhere. At least not today, and not this week. I’m out, I’m visible, I’m proud to be transgender, and my story matters.
Feel better? I really hope so. Let’s get started then.
Transgender Awareness Week is a super cool celebration of who we are. It’s all about visibility, stories, and showing up for each other. And I know that might feel really hard right now with the state of the world looking like a dumpster fire, but it’s also an important way for us to show that our roots grow deep. We, as trans people, have always been part of human culture, and we always will be. Even now, in the face of so much hatred around the world, we’re still showing up, finding one another, making this wonderful community bigger and stronger and more resilient.
We, we beautiful creatures who know gender cannot be contained or bound by rules or laws or hatred, have roots. And our roots are held deep in the soil below us. You can place your hand warmly on the trunk of the tree that we have grown into. You can rest under the shelter of our branches. You can dream beneath the delicate leaves that whisper to you when the wind blows. You can build a home from our heartwood. You can burn our memories to warm yourself when the world is bitter cold with loneliness. You can sustain yourself on the fruit we have borne for you. You can pulp branches into paper and write down your own story there. You can swing from our limbs and sing your joy back to us all. You are a scion, and—even when dormant—you hold the same promise beneath your bark that we all contain; that these intertwined roots cradle the soil and drink the rain and shelter an entire world of their own in the dark below our feet.
We are a grove. We are a forest. We are a biome.
If it could, the world would take our history from us. It would try to convince us that we don’t belong, or that we are somehow novel. This is why we need times like today, like this week, to remember who we are collectively and individually. And this is where our community awareness functions to keep our history alive alongside us. Transgender Awareness Week isn’t just to remind those around us of who we are—it’s for us, too, to open our eyes and see our own belonging.
You belong, and so do I.
All this week I will be collecting the stories and contributions of others within the queer, trans, and allied community to repost here in celebration of Transgender Awareness Week. If you create something in celebration of our community and our stories, please consider tagging me or reaching out to let me know that you’d like me to repost it, share it, and add it to the collection here. Allies, you’re welcome to participate here, too. Your stories are part of this community.
But that’s not all—
has so many outstanding articles in favor of love and family and support, and I can think of nothing better to share than this piece of wisdom about loving our trans and genderdiverse children. wrote a really gorgeous tale of Greta, who chooses herself above all the hatred surrounding her. You can find it here. of once had a trans Cabbage Patch Doll just like I had (and still have) a trans baby blanket. has kindly shared publication space this week with an author asking to remain anonymous. Perhaps these words might be a balm to those who are not yet ready or don’t currently have the ability to be out safely in their environment. is showing his love and care for us through small acts of protest. I am so proud of him., my very good friend, has put together a super cool approach to understanding hormones in ALL bodies. Yep, even yours. has so much to share that it’s impossible to call out just one beautiful thing. Go read all of his beautiful words!
Your story belongs here, too.
Links contributed in the comments will be added to this post. So please tell me about what you’ve written!
Your trans friend,
Robin
What an uplifting piece! So glad we were able to connect, Robin, and thanks again for sharing my essay. I couldn’t be more proud to be mom to a trans child, and I hope more parents will be inspired to embrace diversity. Glad to see your community welcomes so many allies!
I loved the tree imagery! That was sooo very creative and appropriate. Trees come in a varied display of genders which I find fascinating and very much in line with the way Nature actually operates. Well done!