Hey guys, gals, and gender-non-conforming friends! :D I have a query... what do you guys think about having a Trans Pride Day? Now, I know that gay pride technically includes us, but not really. I mean, we have a day set aside for us to commemorate our dead, which, while definitely important, isn't exactly uplifting... what are your thoughts? Would you go to something like that? What kinds of things would you want to see there? I'm thinking about trying to start one in my area.
Thanks!
I might join in if one was set up, but I wouldn't try and set one up myself. It might be fun to talk with other trans people.
Pride is for everyone. Splintering won't help anything. It's much better to work on increasing visibility at existing Pride celebrations than to try to create our own.
Basically, Pride works by showing off the overwhelming numbers of queer people and allies in our communities. It's so big and so popular and so loud that it forces people to recognize our existence and maybe even overestimate our numbers, because so many straight allies and non-gay sexual minorities show up. You wouldn't get that with trans pride - our numbers are much smaller, we have fewer allies, our cultural history isn't half as much fun (so we wouldn't draw the mainstream revelers), and the biggest problem of all is that a lot of trans people aren't/don't want to be out as trans. It's hard enough to get straight trans people to show up to Pride and be out as "generically queer" - having to be out as specifically trans would be way too much.
So you'd have a very small turnout, almost exclusively consisting of politically-active genderqueer types and maybe some drag queens. Who, by the way, are great. But they don't represent the trans community in general, despite being the most visible face of it. You'd face the double whammy of small numbers and a crowd that consists mostly of visibly "other" people.
All I can say is a) we have one here, its the Friday of Pride, with the Dyke March on Saturday, and the Everybody parade on Sunday, and b) it's not like that at all Kyril. It draws a lot of people, some obvious, some not, some very political, some not, and a huge pile of supporters.
This event already exists but is still nascent. It started in San Diego as Transgender Day of Empowerment and has been picked up by other cities. Sometimes it's given a different name.
Here are some photos from this years event, a picture's worth a thousand words and all.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/transmarch/sets/72157624234485283/detail/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/transmarch/sets/72157624234485283/detail/)
We have a Trans March, here in NYC. It's more about visibility and demanding rights than pride. It's also a protest (doesn't need a permit like the pride parade does). This year it was estimated that over 500 people marched in NYC. It's much more radical politically than pride is, and there is a bigger amount of trans people at the trans march vs pride. I feel like there are no trans folks at pride (see: my thread about not having many trans allies at pride) where as the trans march has a lot of trans folks and supporters/S.O.s and allies.
Pix from NYC by mee:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0097.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0097.jpg)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0088-2.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0088-2.jpg)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0093-1.jpg (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y243/Halfway_to_Nowhere/PICT0093-1.jpg)
Quote from: Randy on July 02, 2010, 05:35:59 PM
Hey guys, gals, and gender-non-conforming friends! :D I have a query... what do you guys think about having a Trans Pride Day? Now, I know that gay pride technically includes us, but not really. I mean, we have a day set aside for us to commemorate our dead, which, while definitely important, isn't exactly uplifting... what are your thoughts? Would you go to something like that? What kinds of things would you want to see there? I'm thinking about trying to start one in my area.
Thanks!
What is there to feel proud of?
I also have multiple sclerosis, but I don't feel proud of that, I feel like it kinda sucks.
Same with being trans. ;D
I'm also not sure how gay pride day cover's those of us who don't identify as gay.
Quote from: Ashley4214 on July 02, 2010, 09:23:03 PM
I'm also not sure how gay pride day cover's those of us who don't identify as gay.
Pride is held in June to commemorate Stonewall - where trans women played arguably the largest part. Pride celebrates the affirmation of all sexual minorities' right to freedom of speech (dress) and association. Including trans people.
Anymore in SF, Pride is more total sexual freedom day than it is anything else, it's evolved.
Quote from: tekla on July 02, 2010, 06:34:03 PM
All I can say is a) we have one here, its the Friday of Pride, with the Dyke March on Saturday, and the Everybody parade on Sunday, and b) it's not like that at all Kyril. It draws a lot of people, some obvious, some not, some very political, some not, and a huge pile of supporters.
That's what we have here in Toronto as well
Quote from: Ashley4214 on July 02, 2010, 09:23:03 PM
What is there to feel proud of?
I also have multiple sclerosis, but I don't feel proud of that, I feel like it kinda sucks.
Same with being trans. ;D
I'm also not sure how gay pride day cover's those of us who don't identify as gay.
That's exactly the attitude I'd like to see change! Does being trans suck sometimes, hells yes! But I feel like it's comparable to being gay in that both are looked at as being horrible negative things, when in fact they both are part of the diversity of nature. Being trans has granted me (and all of us) insight into the human condition and the inter-workings of our society that very few people have. The difference is, the gay movement has reached a point where at least some of us can rise above the shame and the bigotry and feel pride in who we are, where the trans movement doesn't seem to be there just yet. We can never hope to achieve the same acceptance until we come out of our closets, and declare who we are with the same pride. That is why I think we need a day just for us. I don't know how much support I'd really get for this sort of thing in Central FL... but it can't hurt to try, right?
And yeah, "gay pride day" really doesn't... it's just one of those things were the LBT is assumed. Whether or not the parades that take place all over the country in honor of it include us or not really depends on where you go.
The point of "Pride" isn't to f|aunt how proud we are of our minority status, the point is visibi|ity.
|oud, undeniab|e Visibi|ity..
Being Trans is not about sticking out, I know, but we don't get any rights nor recognition by staying invisib|e.
I'd go to such an event.
I am not proud of being transsexual, it is just something one is born into....However I am proud that I am in transition, that I choose life over death.
Quote from: Ashley4214 on July 02, 2010, 09:23:03 PMWhat is there to feel proud of?
I get your point but see it as semantic kvetching more than anything else.
"Pride" is an antonym of "shame." If we want to stop feeling ashamed of being trans, we essentially wind up appropriating the opposite sentiment. I guess it's right up there with Black Pride, in a way.
Take gay pride. Personally, I'm not "proud" to be gay; gay is just the way I am. Neither am I ashamed. But I don't think "Gay Unashamed Festival" has quite the same ring as "Gay Pride Festival."
Then there's the gay shame movement...
Well remember - even though most of you don't - that it wasn't 'pride' from the beginning, it was 'Gay Freedom Day' or 'Gay Liberation Day', 'Pride' didn't come along until most of the battles had already been won to a large degree. Like I said it's really evolving into more of a general sexual freedom day in SF anymore.
Quote from: tekla on July 03, 2010, 12:42:58 PMWell remember - even though most of you don't - that it wasn't 'pride' from the beginning, it was 'Gay Freedom Day' or 'Gay Liberation Day',...
That was back in the seventies, if I'm not mistaken. Amazingly, it didn't take long at all to shift to "pride."
20 years, one generation pretty much. This was the 40th march in SF, its been around for a while now.
Quote from: Arch on July 03, 2010, 12:37:16 PM
I get your point but see it as semantic kvetching more than anything else.
"Pride" is an antonym of "shame." If we want to stop feeling ashamed of being trans, we essentially wind up appropriating the opposite sentiment. I guess it's right up there with Black Pride, in a way.
Take gay pride. Personally, I'm not "proud" to be gay; gay is just the way I am. Neither am I ashamed. But I don't think "Gay Unashamed Festival" has quite the same ring as "Gay Pride Festival."
Then there's the gay shame movement...
It doesn't have to be either, it could be "Trans awareness day". That I might be able to get on board with.
Quote from: Ashley4214 on July 03, 2010, 04:16:13 PMIt doesn't have to be either, it could be "Trans awareness day". That I might be able to get on board with.
The way I understand it, some cities/communities do call it that. San Diego calls it "Day of Empowerment." Not a word about pride. Frankly, I would rather have some event, even if it's labeled in a way I don't like, than not have an event at all. (This from someone who unwillingly attended my city's trans event last year and happily skipped it this year...)