For my coworkers at GitHub and the broader GitHub community.
Today is the Transgender Day of Visibility. The purpose of this day is to highlight the accomplishments, joys, and lives of transgender people and to celebrate their existence. But it is also a day to draw attention to the marginalization and suppression of transgender people across the world.
Today’s Day of Visibility occurs in the context of a world in the midst of upheaval, perhaps at a bifurcation point. As a trans person–even a privileged trans person with an established career and relative comfort and stability–this time feels precarious and terrifying, a time where, like no other point in recent memory, our lives and our right to live them feel vulnerable and precious.
I am proud to be transgender. I love being transgender. I’m proud because being transgender is who I am and who I was born as. So, as a part of loving myself and of being proud of myself, I am proud of and love being transgender.
Being able to be visible, being able to be who I am, to come to work and be accepted for who I am–these things allow me to feel whole. Like many of my transgender family who work among you, I would not have been able to get to where I am, to do what I do, to be a good coworker, friend, or partner, without being able to be myself.
The dangers of masking who we are, of hiding our transness, of repressing ourselves and identities are well-documented. Each transgender person you know has lived through challenge to be here and be visible today. And yet we are. Many non-trans people often tell us how brave we are for being ourselves. I agree. But not for the same reasons. Our bravery is an internal one, a bravery to accept ourselves and each other, to love ourselves and each other, despite. Despite.
If you are not transgender, today is a good today to try to learn more about what being transgender means, and why being able to be visible is so crucially important to our health, our safety, and our success.
- You might find this list of tips for allies from GLAAD useful, and a quick read.
- If you have a little more time, you might read PFLAG’s longer, more resourced guide.
- If you are interested in understanding our modern history with a US-centric lens, Susan Stryker’s Transgender History is a good book.
- If you want other recommendations, or want to talk about how you might learn more about transgender identities, or just want to ask questions without judgment, I am happy to offer myself as a resource.
For me, though, today is a good day to reflect on the wholeness that accepting and loving my transgender identity has allowed me to have: wholeness and happiness.
Thank you for allowing me to be visible, today and every day. Thank my transgender family and elders for allowing me to exist, today and every day.