Brought to you by WHA’s LGBTQ+ Employees and Allies Resource Group.
Transgender Awareness Week, November 13 – 19, is a time each year when the LGBTQ+ community and its allies honor, celebrate and uplift trans people, bring awareness to trans issues and advance advocacy.
Quick Facts
- Transgender describes a person whose gender doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth. It is not a sexual orientation; trans people can be gay, straight, pansexual, queer, asexual, or any other sexual orientation.
- 1.4 million trans adults live in the United States.
- 1 in 5 trans people report begin refused medical care they need.
- 78% of trans people experience harassment in K-12 settings.
- 31 states lack explicit legal protections for trans people.
- More than 100 bills attacking transgender people have been introduced in state legislatures since 2020.
- Currently 20 states (including Oregon) and Washington D.C. allow people to update gender markers on IDs without submitting medical documentation.
Source: aclu.org
How can you participate?
- Learn how to have respectful conversations with this helpful terminology guide.
- Watch the Netflix documentary Disclosure to learn how trans representation in film and television has shaped public perception over time.
- Be an informed advocate.
- Become a better ally—at home, at school, at work or in your community.
- Listen to the experiences of transgender people (Trigger warning: this video mentions suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts about suicide, call, text or chat 988 – the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline).
Transgender Day of Remembrance/Day of Resilience – November 20th
Trans Day of Remembrance honors the memory of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. 2022 is the 24th annual observance, which was sparked by the 1998 murder of Rita Hester. In 2015, the non-profit BreakOUT! called for a reframing of the commemoration as Trans Day of Resilience to celebrate trans individuals by acknowledging that their very existences are acts of resistance, power and courage.
Despite these commemorations, trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people—particularly Black and Latinx individuals—continue to experience anti-trans violence. 2021 was the deadliest year on record with at least 50 violent fatalities. Sadly, 2022 has already seen 32 people shot or killed by other violent means. Learn more about the victims and their lives as partners, parents, family members, friends and community members >
Additional Resources
- Trans Awareness Week – Human Rights Campaign
- Transgender Rights – ACLU
- Transgender Resources – GLAAD
- Trans Love Care Packages for BIPOC individuals, families and organizations – Forward Together
- Local Resources – City of Portland