It's Transgender Awareness Week — Here's How to Observe It
This is Transgender Awareness Week, a time to bring attention to trans people, highlight their accomplishments, and note the challenges they still face.The week, observed November 13-19, involves activities such as “educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community,” GLAAD explains on its website.It is followed by Transgender Day of Remembrance November 20, a worldwide observance memorializing all the trans people lost to violence during the year.
The Day of Remembrance was created by activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman killed in 1998.Trans people, especially trans women of color, face disproportionate rates of discrimination and violence.
At least 33 trans Americans have died violently this year, and the actual number is likely much higher, as many are deadnamed or misgendered, or their deaths not reported at all.
Last year saw at least 57 trans Americans die by violence, a record in the time that activists and media have been keeping records, roughly a decade.The past few years have seen a great increase in trans visibility, and since Joe Biden became president, he and others in his administration have expressed much support for the trans community.
