“Visibility is one of the most powerful ways of making positive changes on a larger scale.”
Growing up, my environment was violent: the school, the priests, the bullies, and even at home I wasn’t safe, so I developed my two superpowers: invisibility and pretending to be invulnerable.
Invisibility–or being ‘stealth’–helped me avoid being bullied, and led my family to believe I was super strong. Though I never demonstrated weakness when around others, inside I was fearful. Over time, my body and my psyche bore the brunt of that stress, and as a result of that accumulation, I´m undergoing a healing journey now.
Don´t get me wrong, invisibility is still practical now, and I wouldn´t judge a trans person who decides to remain stealthy for their safety. Today’s political environment is no joke, and I´d be the first to escape an unsafe situation…
But for many trans people and their families, the indignity and the need to raise their voices end up tipping the scales towards visibility, and that’s when things start to change!
From the micro-activism of proudly explaining to the person in front of you what it means to be trans to doing it more massively, it is visibility and education that destroy prejudice. One of the biggest lies in today’s narratives is artificially making being trans a moral issue when it’s not. Being trans is not about good and evil! That’s not the dimension to discuss being trans; try science instead.
Having visible and positive trans role models destroys prejudice because haters are not expecting to see a trans person who has it together. They don’t expect to see a perfectly normal human being trying to live their life like anyone else.
Some people see their prejudice crumble before their eyes when they see the human being who stands behind them.
We recognize the importance of celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility every March 31st as visibility is one of the most powerful ways of making positive changes on a larger scale.
Juliette Greenham
“Visibility is one of the most powerful ways of making positive changes on a larger scale.”
Growing up, my environment was violent: the school, the priests, the bullies, and even at home I wasn’t safe, so I developed my two superpowers: invisibility and pretending to be invulnerable.
Invisibility–or being ‘stealth’–helped me avoid being bullied, and led my family to believe I was super strong. Though I never demonstrated weakness when around others, inside I was fearful. Over time, my body and my psyche bore the brunt of that stress, and as a result of that accumulation, I´m undergoing a healing journey now.
Don´t get me wrong, invisibility is still practical now, and I wouldn´t judge a trans person who decides to remain stealthy for their safety. Today’s political environment is no joke, and I´d be the first to escape an unsafe situation…
But for many trans people and their families, the indignity and the need to raise their voices end up tipping the scales towards visibility, and that’s when things start to change!
From the micro-activism of proudly explaining to the person in front of you what it means to be trans to doing it more massively, it is visibility and education that destroy prejudice. One of the biggest lies in today’s narratives is artificially making being trans a moral issue when it’s not. Being trans is not about good and evil! That’s not the dimension to discuss being trans; try science instead.
Having visible and positive trans role models destroys prejudice because haters are not expecting to see a trans person who has it together. They don’t expect to see a perfectly normal human being trying to live their life like anyone else.
Some people see their prejudice crumble before their eyes when they see the human being who stands behind them.
We recognize the importance of celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility every March 31st as visibility is one of the most powerful ways of making positive changes on a larger scale.
Juliette Greenham
