Have you heard of Trans Day of Visibility?

Trans Day of Visibility, which occurs on March 31st, is all about uplifting the transgender people around us. It’s a day of remembrance, of memorial, of the ones who came before us, and of the ones who are here now. It’s simultaneously a day of anger and of pride. Of shouting our names so loud you’ll never forget them. I won’t wax any more poetic about the day itself. That’s been done over and over by trans people far more equipped than I am. But I do want to change your idea of a trans person. We deserve to be known as more than a sob story. We are joyous, we are beautiful, we are not something you should mourn. We are trans, and we are incredible, however we emerge in life.

In his book “Something That May Shock and Discredit You,” Daniel M. Lavery quotes one of his friends: “God blessed me by making me transsexual for the same reason God made wheat but not bread and fruit but not wine, so that humanity might share in the act of creation.” This quotation has been influential on me as reframing my transness into something beautiful rather than an act of treason.

Being trans is creating a body that is meant for you. It is not hating your body, but loving yourself so much you’d battle the legal system and the hate that being trans brings just to live as yourself. Being trans is an act of love. It is saying that you deserve to be respected, you deserve to be known as you are, you deserve to live in the body that you want. Reframing my transition into a new name and pronouns as love rather than pain helped me immensely. You can love your new name and not your old one; you can love your new body and not the one that came before; you have a choice in this love and you have a decision. You have the decision. That’s important, isn’t it? That you’ll always have the chance to be who you are.

As my partner puts it, “I’m trans because I need to be. Not because I have the option. But because I’m supposed to be.” We are supposed to remake ourselves, over and over, until we find what makes us happy- and then do it all again.

Being trans is not about pain. It’s about joy. It’s about the connections we share with others. And this Trans Day of Visibility, I want that: above all, to be recognized. Above the pain. Above the hate. I want you to know your local trans person as someone who loves themselves. I want you to love yourself, trans or no. And I want you to celebrate this Trans Day of Visibility with us.