Transgender Day of Visibility: Celebrating life

By Cal Sutton

The last day of March may not mean anything to some people. It may just be another day to trudge through work and classes as a college student. To me, though, it means a lot more than that. March 31 is Transgender Day of Visibility.

Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual celebration of transgender individuals and their contributions to society, as well as a day to recognize the adversity and discrimination they face in their everyday lives.

Being transgender is not foreign to me. I am a transgender individual in a political climate where being transgender is not always easy. I often wake up to news headlines coming from across the United States that sour my stomach and contort my anxiety in ways I could not have imagined.

Oftentimes, I do end up finding comfort in myself and my identity, even though it seems that, a lot of the time, people do not find comfort in me existing. This is why Transgender Day of Visibility is so important.

I have known I was not “normal” since I was 9 years old, but I pushed it down and let it sink deeper into my body until the end of my freshman year of college when I finally said, “enough is enough.”

Realizing who I truly was started with passing comments I would make on the playground with friends about what I would do differently in society if I were a boy. Such comments could have probably been a blaring signal to those around me, but only I seemed to have known who I was.

I surfed my way through middle school and got to March of my sophomore year of high school before I realized I was not where I wanted to be — I was not addressing who I actually was. I cut my hair short, started going by a different name and faced a lot of negative situations following that. Needless to say, I grew my hair back out, reverted back to my birth name and kept sailing.

Situations like mine are an example as to why we need to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility. If we, as a society, could somehow come to an agreement that transgender people are not evil or gross, then we would not have people shoving themselves back into boxes they do not fit in.

As June 2025 rolled around, I realized that I was doing more harm than good by not being myself. I felt like I was lying to the new friends I had made when I came to Rider, but I could not seem to muster the courage to tell any of them how I was really feeling.

I started small. I texted one of my best friends a long paragraph at 6:30 p.m. on a random Tuesday and I told him about my identity. Fortunately, I was met with a kindness I had not experienced before. We talked about it, and in the following days, discussed names that he had helped me brainstorm. His help led me to select “Cal,” a name I now hold dearly to my identity and who I really am as a person.

I had come to the conclusion that if I were to be comfortable being myself anywhere, it would be at Rider because of the diverse community and the friends I had made.

The transgender community is incredibly widespread, and they deserve respect and a place in society wherever they may go. They are your neighbors, your friends, the people you pass on a busy street — and they deserve the same kind of respect, acknowledgment and kindness that anyone else has the opportunity to experience.

Transgender Day of Visibility is important to celebrate now more than ever because trailblazers within our community did not work as hard as they did to see our country vote against us time and time again.

From bills in Kansas revoking driver’s licenses of transgender individuals to refusals for gender-affirming healthcare for minors across the nation, the current political climate is pulling back on the hard work of transgender activists and trailblazers.

Rachel Crandall-Crocker, a psychotherapist and activist, pioneered the celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility after recognizing that the only day we had was a solemn one, though important; Transgender Day of Remembrance. It was founded to honor transgender individuals who had died due to identity-based adversity and discrimination.

Crandall-Crocker noted that Transgender Day of Visibility was meant to be “a day to focus on the living.”

Marsha P. Johnson, a name that may be familiar to most, was an integral factor in the turn of transgender rights following Stonewall, which were a series of protests in the late 1960s where LGBTQIA+ individuals retaliated against police harassment in gay bars and other similar spaces.

Transgender individuals have been around and acknowledged since Ancient Rome, where Elagabalus, a Roman emperor, was said to be transgender and even sought gender-affirming surgeries.

I believe that transgender individuals deserve their space in society, in the jobs they desire and in positions of power — Transgender Day of Visibility is important to show that we are not just statistics. We are people with passions, livelihoods, friends and loved ones. Transgender individuals are not a threat, but instead, people with a different and refreshing view on the world.

The history of transgender people runs deep within societies across the world. Whether you are transgender or not, Transgender Day of Visibility is a way to celebrate those around us who face adversity due to who we are, because we are more than just our identities. We each are our own individual person with backstories who have so much to share with the world.

I encourage you to acknowledge the strengths of transgender individuals, as well as rally around them through their struggles. Advocate for them when you can and make sure they feel visible. Not only on Transgender Day of Visibility, but every day.

I am transgender, but my personality is deep and I have so much passion for the things that I love. Being transgender is just a small fraction of who I am, but it still deserves to be recognized. Happy Transgender Day of Visibility.

Cal Sutton is a sophomore journalism major