Director’s Message for International Transgender Day of Visibility – March 31, 2021
Today, we are honoured to join people and organizations around the world to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV), an annual event now in its 12th year of recognizing, empowering and celebrating Transgender lives.
We will raise the Transgender Flag at the Education Centre today, with members of the Equity team.
TDOV is a day in which Transgender and Non-Binary individuals are celebrated for their contributions to society and their efforts to raise awareness about poverty, discrimination, and violence faced by Transgender and Gender Diverse peoples worldwide.
The day was started by Transgender activist Rachel Crandall, who in 2009 created this day of visibility to stand in contrast to the vast amount of negative and violent stories that are portrayed in the media. Prior to the creation of TDOV, the most widely recognized day for Transgender and Gender Diverse people, was International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), which is held annually on November 20th to mourn the loss of Transgender people who have gone missing or been killed.
Rachel’s hope was to create a day where people could celebrate Transgender and Gender Diverse people who are living their authentic lives and acknowledge that not every Transgender person can or wants to be visible because of discrimination and systemic oppression.
HWDSB strives to empower and celebrate the Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender Fluid, and Gender Diverse students, families, and staff members that are a part of our school communities. Without awareness and raising visibility, we cannot hope to end discrimination in the form of Transphobia.
Gender identity and expression are important to well-being and are often factors in harassment and discrimination. We can all help to foster student and staff well-being – and the positive outcomes this brings – by confronting bias and learning more about our entire community.
Thank you for striving to make our schools, departments and communities places where all are accepted. Let’s remember that #TransRightsAreHumanRights as we mark #TDOV2021HWDSB.
Sincerely,
Manny Figueiredo
Director of Education
Resources to learn more:
Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity-International Trans Day of Visibility campaign
Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity-Resources
ETFO Ten Ways to Support Trans Students and Educators
Rainbow Health Ontario – Media Guide for Discussing Transgender and Gender Diverse People
Updated on Wednesday, March 31, 2021.