How To Show Support This Trans Visibility Day & Always

Respecting people’s pronouns is an essential part of being an ally. In fact, a Canadian court ruled in 2021 that the act of misgendering someone qualifies as a human rights violation.

Beyond honoring someone’s pronouns, you can take simple steps to make others feel safer to share theirs. Adding pronouns to your social media bios and clarifying your pronouns in conversation are great ways to normalize dialogue around pronouns.

Another important step is educating yourself about the use of neopronouns, which can offer a way for people to find pronouns that better align with their identity.

Redistribute funds toward organizations that support trans rights, and/or find ways to actively support or volunteer with them. Here are 12 organizations doing great work right now to support the trans community.

1. Trans Student Educational Resources is a youth-led organization dedicated to transforming educational environments for trans and gender nonconforming students through advocacy and empowerment.
2. The National Center for Transgender Equality, the nation’s leading social justice advocacy organization for transgender people, works at the local, state, and federal levels to change laws, policies, and society.
3. The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is committed to ending gender identity discrimination, and seeks to achieve equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy effort.
4. Trans Lifeline, a nonprofit dedicated to the well-being of transgender people, is a hotline staffed by transgender people for transgender people.
5. The Transgender Law Center is committed to changing laws, policies, and attitudes so that all people can live safely, authentically, and free from discrimination regardless of their gender identity or expression.
6. The Trevor Project is a national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ teens and young adults.
7. GLSEN (pronounced "glisten") is a national organization committed to ensuring safe schools for all LGBTQ+ students.
8. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project works to guarantee freedom for all people to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence.
9. The TransWomen of Color Collective supports the narratives, lived experiences, and leadership of trans and gender non-conforming people of color, and their families and friends, as they work toward collective liberation for all oppressed people.
10. Gender Spectrum creates gender sensitive and inclusive environments for all children and teens by providing help to families, organizations, and institutions to increase understandings of gender.
11. ActBlue has aggregated a list of Black Trans organizations which you can redistribute funds towards collectively, or individually. Some of the groups listed include Black & Pink, a prison abolitionist organization focused upon the liberation of LGBTQ+ people and those affected by HIV/AIDS, and For the Gworls, an organization that continually raises funds for the Black trans people to cover costs like gender-affirming surgery, rent, and travel.
12. The Protect and Defend Trans Youth Fund is another great resource for distributing funds to a list of organizations providing direct support to trans youth. Ariana Grande created the fund with Pledge, and is currently matching all donations of up to $1.5 million.

Knowledge is power, and today is the perfect day to educate yourself about trans issues. If you're reluctant to participate in TDOV because you feel like you don't know enough, the National Center for Transgender Equality has a resource guide you can download to learn more. BookRiot has also aggregated a list of books about transgender history, and there are plenty of educational documentaries like Disclosure to learn more about transgender history.

Another great way to remain informed is to follow trans activists and creators.

TDOV is a day to celebrate the trans community and spread awareness about the unique challenges these individuals face. Showing your support on social media — especially through sharing educational resources, boosting petitions, and highlighting organizations to support — is a great way to encourage others to get involved.

Trans Week of Visibility and Action (TWOVA) has compiled a week’s worth of daily actions you can take to tangibly support the trans community — and has an entire social media toolkit for mobilizing others to take actions. Sharing TWOVA’s various resources and efforts it a great way to get others involved alongside you.

Now more than ever, ensuring the safety and freedom of transgender youth is paramount. The Trevor Project has a great guide for being an ally to transgender and nonbinary youth. Another great way to take action is by referring to TransAthlete.com’s list of state-by-state actions to ensure the trans community’s right to participate in sports.

Ariana Grande has also created a fund to raise money for various organizations working to protect trans youth called the Protect & Defend Trans Youth Fund. Grande is matching all donations up to $1.5 million.

If there is a TDOV event near you, show up in person to give your support. To find an event you can simply search on Facebook for TDOV events near you. If you can't be there in person, there are plenty of virtual events to join as well.

Being intersectional means embracing race, sexuality, class, disability, citizenship, etc. Some ways to transform this acknowledgment into action including educating oneself about transgender people of color throughout history and finding ways to center and support the efforts of transgender people of color.

As Ryann Holmes, TGNCI narrative power builder of the Movement for Black Lives, wrote in a Medium post for TDOV 2022, “To center Black trans women and femmes means to call for the end of profiling and criminalization, police and prison violence that they face — to defund and dismantle these harmful systems and to build up systems of safety and protection in their place.”

Sometimes being silent can be the same as being complicit. This TDOV (and every day), let people know when they have said something that is offensive, because holding each other accountable is a vital part of advancing trans rights.