Social Viability

By: Anya Camins Brinnand

Rachel Crandall Crocker Photo by Jacob Lewkow

On March 31st 2018 the world celebrates International Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual holiday dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness of Trans people worldwide. This holiday was founded by Transgender activist Rachel Crandall-Crocker in 2009 as a response to the lack of LGBT holidays celebrating Trans people. Prior to this Holiday the only well-known Trans-centered holiday was Transgender Day of Remembrance, which focused on mourning the murders of Trans people and did not acknowledge nor celebrate living members of the Transgender community. In it’s 9th year now, International Transgender Day of Visibility is a huge leap forward in Trans awareness and visibility. It is a holiday that is celebrated not only in the US, but across the world.

“It’s even in Russia now, it’s even in Africa. I mean we’re talking about countries where it’s illegal,” Crandall-Crocker said.

Gigi Gorgeous Photo by Pax Ahimsa Gethen

A huge contribution to its success has been the growing amount of it’s social media presence. Last year in San Francisco, YouTube Transgender celebrity Gigi Gorgeous headlined the 2017’s TDOV, along with other special guests. It is through these social media outlets that The visibility of Trans people continues to grow. Though most of us feel like we need to be advocates, Trans socialites or celebrities in order to represent our community, we need to rise above that misconceptions and incorporate our lives and experiences through social media posts and everything social outlet possible.

Whether social media is used for personal communication, business, a forum of support, self-promotion or political influencing, it’s important to utilized the advantages and make our voices heard. So for every Trangender person reading this today, log on to your facebook, twitter, instagram or snap chat and continue to post your experiences, hastag your thoughts and upload your authentic selfies. Let’s not just celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility once, let’s celebrate it everyday and make sure to hit that “share” button.