Transgender visibility day celebrated in northern Ontario

Friday was International Transgender Day of Visibility, which recognizes and celebrates the trans, two-spirit and gender-diverse community.

It’s a day that recognizes and raises awareness about the importance of representation.

Quinn Organ, who is two-spirited, said the day is also about recognizing gender-diverse people in Indigenous communities.

“Before colonization, our communities recognized our gender-diverse folks in the community and their roles,” Organ said.

“We recognize the medicine keepers, the fire keepers, the water walkers of Indigenous communities. So trans day visibility is really important for the work we’ve done in the past, the work we’re doing currently and the work we’re doing in the future.”

Laur O’Gorman said on this day, they think about trans joy, rather than trauma.

“When you see real depictions, real trans visibility, then trans people just become people,” O’Gorman said.

“And I think that’s key. There’s more to being trans than just trauma.”

O’Gorman said the journey to becoming transgender was confusing, in part, because there was little to no accurate representation of trans people in movies or television shows during that time.

“If you ever did see trans folk on TV, they were the butt of jokes, or they were villains, or sometimes both at the same time,” O’Gorman said.

“And so there were no stories of trans folks as regular people just living their lives, so it was hard to see yourself as a trans person.”

Réseau Access Network provides wellness, risk and harm reduction services, offering various levels of support to those in the LGBTQ2S+ community.

The organization said it wants more people to know about the services it offers.

“So maybe someone’s coming out, or it’s a child or a family member or a friend or a friend’s child and know that we are somebody in the community that are trying to support this community that is so marginalized and experience so much unintentional harm,” said Réseau’s Aspen Groom.

O’Gorman said the day is about celebrating trans joy to reframe the narrative and normalize transness -- and make it more visible.