Each year on March 31, the world observes Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) to raise awareness about transgender people. It is a day to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people, while also drawing attention to the poverty, discrimination, and violence the community faces.
International TDOV was created in 2010 by trans advocate Rachel Crandall. Crandall, the head of Transgender Michigan, created TDOV in response to the overwhelming majority of media stories about transgender people being focused on violence. She hoped to create a day where people could celebrate the lives of transgender people, while still acknowledging that due to discrimination, not every trans person can or wants to be visible.1
The Libraries are celebrating TDOV with displays that highlight and amplify the trans experience.
In Sawyer Library, Visible Voices: Celebrating Trans Identities was curated by Ruth Kramer, who shared the following: “There have been so many studies and works written about trans and gender non-conforming people, their lives and experiences, but often the words of trans people living these experiences are pushed aside in order to center cisgender voices instead. For Trans Day of Visibility this year, I aimed to center the experiences of trans and gender-non-conforming individuals by creating a list of books in Sawyer library that are about and by trans and gender-non-conforming individuals. These books can be identified by the trans pride flag bookmarks peeking out of the stacks.” Look for the books on every floor of Sawyer, with some titles displayed on temporary shelves in the Research Commons. See the full booklist here: qrco.de/beu2yn.
In Schow Science Library, May Beattie and Emery Shriver compiled a list of gender-diverse folks in STEM fields. Short biographies of the scientists, accompanied by selected scholarly works, are on display near the services desk. See the full resource list.
In Special Collections, Emil Corb chose a few items that explore how transgender and gender-non-conforming people are documented, both by themselves and others. These unique items, with publication dates ranging from 1927 to 2023, are on display in the Weber Special Collections Reading Room. See the list of items on display.
These displays will stay up until April 5.
1From https://glaad.org/tdov/