LGBTQ+ advocates in Sheffield have been marking International Transgender Day of Visibility, and speaking about the discrimination faced by the transgender community.
The day has been marked annually on 31 March since 2009. It was founded by activist Rachel Crandall, in response to what activists say is a lack of recognition of transgender and non-binary people.
Sheffield PLAN Society, an LGBTQIA+ non profit organisation at the University of Sheffield, is marking the day through their social media by highlighting important statistics and an upcoming protest.
Laurie Wills, a committee member, said the day is very important to the trans community as although numbers are growing, the trans community is still quite small, “can be really isolating”.
Wills, who in non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, highlights the importance for trans youth in particular to be able to see representation of trans figures in society.
They want to raise awareness of the issues faced by the trans community, such as “being told they are not normal, hate crimes against trans people being on the rise as well as death rates of trans people of colour increasing”.
Wills said they feel uncomfortable when “entering spaces where people are trying to suss you out and figure out if you’re a man or a woman”.
Hate crimes against transgender people have seen a significant rise, with 4,355 reports, up 56% from the previous year, according to statistics from the Home Office.
Transgender Day of Visibility is being marked in Sheffield by a Trans Rights march starting at Devonshire Green on Saturday 1 April, at 12pm.
The organisers of the march are Sheffield Radical Pride, “a queer grassroot group”. They said on Twitter that the march was to “reclaim our streets and bring the fight to the government”.
Conrad McDonnel, a student at the University of Sheffield who is transgender, said he had mixed feelings about the day.
“It’s a fun little gimmick on the surface,” he said. “But as trans visibility has increased in mainstream media over the last 10 years, we’ve also seen a big increase in backlash against trans people. So visibility kind of comes as a double-edged sword.
“The day doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t mean anything. What trans people need is clear political support instead of being treated like a political tennis ball.
“So either support us fully or not at all. If not just leave trans people alone.”
Feature image by Siu-ho Tung, taken during a trans protest on 27 February.