Transgender Awareness Week 2023
Image description: Digital banner with text, ‘Transgender Awareness Week’ on blue and pink background with leaves.
Transgender Awareness Week is November 13 to 19.
From GLAAD:
Transgender Awareness Week is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the community by 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.
Image Description: Digital image with text, “Celebrate Dawson’s Two Spirit & Trans Community, #TDOR, @DWS_EndViolence” in a glowing heart with sprinkles in the background.
TAW in Yukon
Some important Transgender Awareness Week highlights all coming from Queer Yukon (check out QY’s website, instagram, twitter, and facebook!)
To start off, Mira from Queer Yukon created this video with four areas that allys can focus on this week and throughout the year:
Practice active allyship
Celebrate the trans people in your community
Help trans folks access gender affirming care
Support trans youth
“Allyship, like transition, is a lifelong process.”
Last year, Queer Yukon’s Mira had an impactful welcome to Transgender Awareness Week:
“You should be aware of us by now.”
Organized Trans Hatred in the Yukon
There has been a resurgence of organized and public hatred against trans folks in the Yukon, especially around school curriculum that includes trans, Two Spirit, and queer experiences, often called Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity-inclusive (SOGI) education.
Queer Yukon has created an open letter supporting SOGI education in the Yukon that you can sign here:
…[L]earning about Two-Spirit, trans and queer relationships, identities and individuals is no less age-appropriate than the heterosexual counterparts. SOGI education simply teaches youth about the factual diversity that exists in the world, giving them tools to navigate their society and see themselves, their friends and families reflected in their curriculum. In fact, research shows that creating 2SLGBTQIA+-inclusive school environments makes both straight and 2SLGBTQIA+ students feel safer, improves their mental health, and reduces instances of sexual assault.
Trans Day of Remembrance - November 20th
Image Description: Digital image with text, “I’m grieving a Two Spirit loved one, #TDOR, @DWS_EndViolence”
"Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice."
- TDoR founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith
November 20th is Trans Day of Remembrance.
We remember those murdered. We fight for those who are still alive.
We work to end transphobic violence and we celebrate with joy the incredibleness, talents, and diversity of the trans community.
TDOR in Dawson
Image Description: Digital image with text, “I’m grieving a Two Spirit loved one, #TDOR, @DWS_EndViolence”
When: Monday, November 20th, 7-9pm
Where: Front Street fire pit
What: A vigil in memory and honour of our Two-Spirit, Trans, and Non-Binary kin who are no longer with us.
We'll be gathering for a fire at the fire pit and Artist Market on Front St at 7pm. Afterwards, we will be sharing space and offering snacks at the DCMF building on 3rd and Harper until 9pm.
If you have any questions or mobility needs, please email Calhoun@queeryukon.com or Jules@queeryukon.com
More info on the Queer Yukon website.
TDOR in Whitehorse
When: Monday, November 20th, 5-8pm
Where: Queer Yukon, The Cache - 4230 4 Ave, Whitehorse
What: In Whitehorse, Queer Yukon is holding a vigil in memory and honour of our Two-Spirit, Trans, and Non-Binary kin who are no longer with us. Folks are invited to light a lantern, leave an offering, or add to QY’s Wall of Remembrance. More info on Queer Yukon’s website.
Take Action
We can prevent violence against trans people.
Bystander intervention is essential skills that we all need to learn. When your friend make a transphobic joke, interrupt them. When your co-worker gets Jasmin’s pronouns wrong, kindly correct them.
We need to create a culture where any form of transphobia is unacceptable.
Mira from Queer Yukon has five ways we can support trans youth:
“Youth deserve the freedom to be their authentic selves.”
Chat with DWS about booking a bystander intervention workshop for your group.
Draw the Line, a bystander intervention campaign created by Ontario sexual assault centres, created many scenarios about preventing the violence trans people experience:
HRC also has created ‘Dismantling Trans Violence’ an excellent guide to understanding the systems that hold up trans hatred and how to dismantle those harmful systems.
Take Care
Run by and for trans people, Trans Lifeline provides trans peer support trans folks as well as their friends and family.
Folks in Canada can call everyday from 3pm-10pm, Yukon time - (877) 330-6366.