The International Trans Day of Visibility on March 31 is an annual event dedicated to celebrating trans people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.
The Pride Caucus invites all AMAPCEO members to commemorate this day by familiarizing themselves with the following Canadian trans activists and trans historical figures.
Canadian activists
Monica Forrester is a Program and Outreach Co-ordinator for Maggie's Toronto Sex Workers Action Project. Since 1999, she has worked in various agencies to educate and make services accessible for trans* folks. She actively works to promote awareness and visibility of trans women. From living and working on the streets, to being instrumental in creating a drop-in and an outreach program for transpeople at the 519, to her current work as a program coordinator for Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project, Forrester has long advocated for transgender people in Toronto. She was also part of advocating for trans women to be allowed into women’s shelters and in creating policies to prevent shelters from discriminating against trans women.
Ravyn Wngz is an African, Bermudian, Mohawk, 2Spirit, and queer transcendent individual and a member of the Toronto Black Lives Matter (BLM-TO) Steering Committee. As a co-founder of ILL NANA/DiverseCity Dance Company, Ravyn aims to challenge mainstream arts and dance spaces by sharing her stories, while continuing to create opportunities and platforms for marginalized LGBTTIQQ2S people with a focus on African/Black communities. Known as “the Black Widow of Burlesque,” Ravyn also is the artistic director of OVA—Outrageous Victorious Africans Collective—a dance/theatre collective that shares the contemporary voices of African/Black and Queer/self -identified storytellers.
Jamie Lee Hamilton became the first openly transgender person to run for political office in Canada when she ran for Vancouver City Council in 1996. She also participated in Vancouver’s first Pride march and was elected Ms. Gay Vancouver in 1991. A community activist, Hamilton spent her life fighting on behalf of vulnerable populations. She was one of the first to ring the alarm bell to police and media about women going missing, and being murdered, from Vancouver’s Downtown East side. Hamilton also served as a director of the Vancouver Pride Society and the Greater Vancouver Native Cultural Society.
Historical figures
Marsha P. Johnson: A transgender activist who participated in the Stonewall Uprising and fought for equal rights for queer and transgender people.
Delisa Newton: A Haitian American trans woman from New Orleans who was a nurse and renowned jazz vocalist. She wrote an article recounting her early life, transition, and experiences seeking gender-affirming surgery as a Black woman in the US.
Jackie Shane: A black transgender soul singer who packed nightclubs in Toronto in the 1960s and was a central figure in the R&B scene of the time. You can read more of her story here and stay tuned for a new documentary coming to the South by Southwest Film Festival in March.