NEWS RELEASE
NIAGARA TRANSGENDER ACTION COALITION
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The Niagara Transgender Action Coalition invites supporters to join us in celebrating the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) by participating in community events on March 28 and 30.
The celebrations begin on March 28 at 4 p.m., when the Transgender flag will be raised at St. Catharines City Hall. Then, on March 30 from 2 to 5 p.m., we will gather at Silver Spire Church in St. Catharines for a TDOV event including performances, speakers, community resources and refreshments.
Trans Day of Visibility is observed annually on March 31 to honour the joy and resilience of trans and nonbinary communities while also acknowledging the accelerating discrimination we face in all areas of life, including education, employment, health care, housing, and legislation.
This year, Niagara’s TDOV event will focus on the theme of Protecting Trans Kids - this is particularly timely given that the rights of trans youth to express their authentic selves and to receive gender affirming care are under attack. Changes to school policy in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick now require parental consent for youth under 16 to use their chosen pronouns and names, while Alberta’s premier has gone even further, introducing sweeping changes which will restrict gender-affirming care as well as erode the rights of trans students.
These transphobic policies create an unsafe environment for transgender youth and adults and erode their hard-won human rights.
Despite the frightening rise in rhetoric and violence against trans people, we remain resilient, joyful and unapologetic and look forward to celebrating TDOV in solidarity with our allies.
“We have been working for decades to obtain basic human rights granted to other people, and it greatly saddens us to see this hard work under attack,” says Colleen McTigue, founder and facilitator of the Transgender Niagara support group.
“All we really ask is the right to exist in public. There is now so much disinformation being spread about gender affirming care that we are seen as a threat. This puts us in danger. Transgender Day of Visibility is therefore more important than ever. We WILL be seen.”
Please note: To ensure that all members of our community can safely participate in our March 30 event, we will be supplying masks and requiring everyone to wear them.
For more information, contact Colleen McTigue, facilitator, Transgender Niagara, by email at [email protected]
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