Transgender Awareness Week | Nov 13-19, 2023
Transgender week was established in 2017 to recognize the issues faced by individual’s whom are transgender and the allies that support them. This week is a time for people to come together and to support the transgender communities by encouraging education, protection from discrimination or hate, and ensuring we are honouring their choices. The week is followed by Trans Day of Remembrance and Resilience (TDoRR) which falls annually on November 20th. Which is a day of remembrance to individual’s who have lost their lives to transphobic violence.
Individual’s whom express being transgender identity that their gender does not match with the sex they were assigned as birth. There are many terms that may be used by individual’s including male, female, non-binary, gender non-conforming, he/him, she/her, or they/them. Transgender identify may be accompanied with a desire to transition to the gender that one identifies with.
ITgetsbetterCanada suggests ways of developing TransAllyShip within communities, work spaces, and personal lives through these ways:
- Do your own research – learning about terminology, experiences, and issues that are impacting the transgender communities
- Listening to transgender voices – find out what their experiences have been and remembering one narrative does not fit all.
- Normalizing the sharing of pronouns – this helps to create environment that are inclusive and welcoming. Places to include your pronouns can be in verbal introductions, name tags, and email signatures.
- Challenging negative comments or jokes that are transphobic – spreading awareness about the negative impacts on comments and jokes helps to reduce barriers and stigma for individuals.