Lesbian day of visibility 202112/29/2023 ![]() But even now, being butch in public means being instantly recognized as someone who is breaking the rules of what it means to be a woman, a crime to be punished. Gay women are often maligned no matter how they appear. This is not to say that feminine and femme lesbians don’t experience their fair share of prejudice. I think they found her funny because they still think she’s a freak.” “I don’t think 3,000 people found a butch lesbian funny because she’s indicative of an outdated wave of feminism. “It’s because butch is a reductive term,” said a queer former friend over tofu, and I very nearly left the table. The description was meant to be rapturous and intimate, but even at this lesbian musical in the home of Boston marriages, masculine women were a joke. I had only been out for a few months, so thrilled to explore myself and my relationships in a relatively safe place, and I remember looking to Ollie in horror. During “Ring of Keys,” when Young Alison describes the delivery woman as an old-school butch, the enormous theater erupted into laughter. “Ring of Keys” was my ring of keys.Īfter I moved to Boston, where rainbow flags adorned church windows and I watched girls hold hands in public in unfettered awe, Ollie and I saw “Fun Home” performed live. Ironically, it wasn’t until I actually listened to “Fun Home” at 22 that I realized what I was. Ollie, my wife, then friend, clocked me as a closeted lesbian right away, even as I grew my hair and dated a slew of men. I didn’t even hear the word “lesbian” used in a positive context until I went to college, though I was already peeling back the layers of my own internalized homophobia from the second I got there. To my perception, masculine women were a curiosity at best, gender traitors to be mocked at worst. Gay women were few and far between where I grew up, though I knew lots of wonderful gay men. There are many places online that share tips on how to be a good ally.I never had a traditional ring of keys moment. For example, people often confuse sexual orientation and gender identity. Allies can start by learning the basic terminology surrounding the transgender community. See what kind of help they need, whether it be volunteering or offering a service that you’re good at.Įducate yourself. Seek out authentic stories and media that have been created by the transgender community, such as the Transgender Film Center, a non-profit organization that supports transgender filmmakers and their projects.Ĭall your local LGBTQ center. Seek out stories by transgender creators. Here are a few ways to support the transgender community today: Because of this, GLAAD says, it is imperative that entertainment media gets it right when talking about transgender stories. Here’s why it matters: Recent polls show that one-quarter of people in the US say they personally know someone who is transgender, meaning that the majority of Americans learn about the transgender community from what they see in entertainment media. For the third year in a row, GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index also reported no transgender characters in a major movie.Įlliot Page becomes first trans man to appear on Time magazine cover According to a recent Gallup poll, 11.3 percent of LGBT adults identify as transgender, yet when it comes to representation in the media, there are only 29 transgender characters across prime-time broadcast, cable, and streaming originals, according to media advocacy organization GLAAD. Today illustrates the importance of transgender representation worldwide, especially as transgender and gender-nonconforming people face risks every day. The importance of transgender representation While the Transgender Day of Remembrance (or TDOR) is held every year on November 20 to memorialize the transgender people who have lost their lives as a result of anti-transgender violence, TDOV is a day dedicated to honor and empower the lives of transgender and nonbinary people. It was started as a day of awareness to celebrate the successes of transgender and gender-nonconforming people and is an important day for the LGBTQ community. Transgender Day of Visibility (or TDOV) was founded in 2009 by Rachel Crandall, a Michigan-based transgender activist and the Executive Director of Transgender Michigan. With transgender visibility in the US at an all-time high in politics, media and sports, today is a day for allies and advocates to show up and show support. Today, transgender and nonbinary people around the world will recognize International Transgender Day of Visibility.
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