There are two important dates you need to know about. The election has officially been called for May 3. But before that, Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) is March 31 (this coming Monday) – a celebration of trans identity, bringing awareness to the experience and contribution of transgender, gender diverse and non-binary people. This year, protests and rallies will be taking place across Australia from Sunday, March 30 (find the details for your local rally here).
These two important dates have a lot to do with each other, and the theme of this year’s TDOV rallies shows us why: solidarity and intersectionality.
The trans visibility rallies have been organised with the involvement and solidarity of other groups that you might think are unrelated to the trans struggle. “In Melbourne, we are marching alongside First Nations groups, pro-Palestine groups, unions from across the board as well as many other grassroots networks to change the narrative on trans liberation,” said organiser Natalie Feliks. On the issues that affect us all – worker’s rights, wealth inequality, physical and sexual violence under patriarchy – trans people typically the most vulnerable and experience the worst outcomes.
All struggles are connected and intertwined. Even when it comes to things that can feel far away from everyday Australian life, like war. “We have seen the symbol of queer rights being used to justify a genocide in the Middle East, the bombing of children, the incarceration of refugees, and the destruction of our union movement. The trans community does not consent to this disgusting misuse of our struggle,” Feliks said.
When trans issues and experiences are covered in media, it’s often flattened into a singular experience (usually that of the white and wealthy). But being transgender overlaps and intersects with so many other identities that significantly changes the challenges a person may face and what they want to say about their experience. The TDOV rallies are making a point of putting the focus on those experiences.
“This year we want to give a platform to those of us who aren’t given visibility – especially our women and femmes, our incarcerated, our children, refugees, Aboriginal, Palestinian and our disabled community members,” said Ember Lenarduzzi from Trans Liberation. “It’s important to me that we uplift and centre those of us who are too often erased from conversations around trans liberation.”
Which brings us to the federal election. Standing with the trans community at the outset of the election campaign is an important signal to political candidates that we will not let them be used as a political pinata.
It’s one thing to do this online, but physically coming together at a rally sends a much stronger message too. As we wrote in 2023 after the counter-rallies that hounded anti-trans bigot Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull out of Australia and New Zealand:
“Continuing to counter [far-right] bullshit with open displays of solidarity for targeted people is the only way to ensure these views never attain legitimacy.
Showing up for each other, in public, is an act of hope. All the time we spend behind little screens on our own can make it easy to forget how much power we have in numbers; physically coming together in the offline world to flex those numbers takes effort. It’s the effort that really underscores the message about what we will not stand for. That’s how we beat hate, by proving how tiny and insignificant those views are in comparison.”
There are real policies on the line that cause real harm. In January, the Queensland government blocking hormone treatments for teens against the expert advice. In the 2022 election, anti-trans campaigner Katherine Deves built a national profile off her Liberal candidacy – now she does appearances on Sky News, attempting to convince Australia that harassment of trans women is necessary to protect cis women and girls. These views continue to simmer within political representatives across the spectrum, from the Coalition to Labor to the Greens.
Standing with the trans community in this election campaign sums up everything Trans Day of Visibility is about: refusing to let those in power ignore or override the needs of Australia’s most vulnerable.
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