The Human Rights Campaign estimates that there are more than two million transgender individuals in the United States, with a 2023 survey indicating that the number of Americans who report knowing a transgender person doubles every seven years. Though the exact date is unclear, Transgender Awareness Week began gaining traction in the early 2000s to call attention to the lives of our transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary family and friends.
Each year between November 13 and 19, organizations and individuals around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help foster a better understanding of transgender people and the issues members of the community face and to provide those outside the community an opportunity to learn about a resilient group of people that have been marginalized for far too long. Transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to their community by educating the public, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender population.
This week of awareness culminates in Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20, a day meant to honor the memory of individuals whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence the previous year. Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a transgender woman, to memorialize the murder of another transgender woman, Rita Hestor, in Allston, Massachusetts. Transgender Awareness Week was born as a direct result of Transgender Day of Remembrance, and the need to do more than merely memorialize those who have died tragically.
Transgender Awareness Week is a means to celebrate the lives of a thriving, vibrant community and, since its inception, has grown to become recognized by more than 185 cities and more than 20 nations across the globe.
Find a curated list of non-fiction titles representing the trans experience and learn more about the transgender community's history, struggles, and triumphs.
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