Throughout the past week, the OU Pride network have been sharing information on their Facebook page to promote awareness of the issues faced by transgender people, and to celebrate their achievements.
Some of the rescources shared include a tips for allies of transgender people, a guide for the significant-others and parters of transgender people, and the below information about gender pronouns, important dates relating to transgender advocacy, and a history of the Transgender Pride flag.
1952 – Christine Jorgensen was in American national media and was the first American publicly known to have a sex change.
1954 – News of the first British trans woman, Roberta Cowell, broke
1964 – The Erickson Educational Foundation was created by trans man Reed Erickson, the first foundation to donate millions to promote transgender and gay equality
1972 – Sweden legalised gender reassignment. The first country to do so.
1975 – The Gender Dysphoria clinic at Queen Victoria Hospital in Melbourne Australia was established
1999 – The first observance of International Transgender Day of Remembrance to commemorate victims of anti-transgender hate crimes was observed on November 20th.
2002 – Transgender Law Center founded which aimed to alter laws to allow transgender people to live life without fear of discrimination.
2009 – The first observance of International Transgender Day of Visibility. Created by activist Rachel Crandall to be a positive counterpart to Transgender Day of Remembrance, observed on November 20th.
The Trans Flag is light blue, pink and white and was designed by Monica Helms in 1999 and was first shown at a Pride parade in Arizona in 2000.
This is how Helms described the flag themself:
"The stripes at the top and bottom are light blue, the traditional colour for baby boys. The stripes next to them are pink, the traditional colour for baby girls. The stripe in the middle is white, for those who are transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender"
Today, on Transgender Day of Rememberance, we ask you to spend some time in silence to reflect upon the loss of our transgender friends and family who have passed over the last twelve months.
The only thing I want to say, is unlike Monica Helms statement, I am aware that until relatively recently pink was for boys and blue for girls, it only changed after world war 2! As for the rest… I have been mourning g for twenty years we still need a TGDoR, and hope one day we no longer do….