Transgender Awareness Week & Transgender Day of Remembrance

November 13 - 19 is Transgender Awareness Week, when transgender people and their allies take work to educate the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and spotlighting ways we can advocate around issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community.

This work has never been more timely or important than it is now. We've seen far too many stories that center on negativity, false narratives and transparent prejudice. Transgender Awareness Week is an opportunity to uplift positive and insightful stories, celebrate changemakers and have conversations about what allies can do at this critical moment.

Here's a film from Human Rights Campaign about Daniel, whose "story is typical of any teenager with the same quiet milestones of youth that we all experience… Trans stories are everyone's stories."

While Sarah McBride, the first out transgender person was elected to Congress in last week's election, she will take office when discrimination against trans people is on the rise, and increasingly permitted, encouraged and abetted by elected officials. That's why NOW members are participating this week in activities to help increase understanding and build a community of activists and allies to strengthen transgender awareness.

And on November 20, we observe Transgender Day of Remembrance, honoring the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. It began as a vigil, held in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. Many will participate in vigils across the country this month at community centers, parks, places of worship and other locations.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least twenty-seven transgender and gender-expansive people lost their lives in 2024 through violent means, including intimate partner violence. And their report, The Epidemic of Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in the United States, details what we must do to empower transgender leaders, build safer, stronger communities, and ensure that all transgender and gender non-conforming people can live their lives safely, as their full selves.

This month, NOW members are determined to do their part in building that better future.