On Tuesday, USC will celebrate this year’s Transgender Day of Visibility. Since the day’s origin five years ago, it has attempted to raise awareness of the state of trans people internationally.
The positive counterpart to the Transgender Day of Remembrance (which focuses on the abuse and violence suffered by trans people), the Day of Visibility is typified by presenting trans accomplishments. In that vein, the day’s event is focused on a showing of "TransVisible: Bamby Salcedo's Story," a Kickstarter-supported documentary about the growth of a trans woman leader.
We think that any step to put trans issues in the spotlight is a worthwhile endeavor. Compared to the national conversation revolving around gay marriage, trans issues are relatively unknown.
And that’s a serious issue. According to a study published by the National Center for Transgender Equality, “a staggering 41 percent of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6 percent of the general population.” More than half reported being harassed or bullied at school.
More than 60 percent reported that they were victims of sexual assault.
But that’s not the end of the narrative. The study also said that more than three out of four respondents “reported feeling more comfortable at work and their performance improving after transitioning;” that more than half of those who reported losing a job due to being trans found jobs again; that 94 percent of those trans people who reported trans-related housing abuse are currently housed.
In other words, there’s an underlying toughness and hope for societal change among trans people that the Day of Visibility was created to highlight.
We understand that a celebration of this day is a recent addition to the university, but we wish there were more events than an evening screening of a documentary in the USC Law School.
A Greene Street booth set up in the afternoon — in conjunction with the documentary — would showcase the day to the audience that needs it most: those who have no idea about trans issues whatsoever.
It could be a platform for some of the trans-related issues that have fallen through the cracks at USC. The push for gender-neutral housing and bathrooms, which was a subject of general interest in the last few years, has all but fallen out of general discussion.
We believe that, if executed in the right way, the Day of Visibility could push those issues back to the surface and help provide a permanent, positive change to the lives of trans people at USC.