Transgender Awareness Week | 12th – 18th November 2020

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Trans Awareness Week is the time leading up to Trans Day of Remembrance. Trans awareness week aims to raise the profile of issues affecting the trans community as well as the stories of trans people and their allies. Trans Day of remembrance is a day dedicated to remembering victims of transphobic hate crime.

Ricki Kettle of Northern Ireland Civil Service was Stonewall’s Trans Role Model of the Year in 2019 had this to say about Trans awareness week:

“Trans Awareness Week is especially important for me as not only does it focus on promoting the visibility of trans people, it also highlights the importance of trans allies and how they can help make a difference to trans peoples lived experience.  Despite some progress in recent years, stigma against transgender people remains a reality.  In my experience, trans people want to live their authentic life and with the support of allies in this journey, it is made much more rewarding and empowering.  My own journey was impacted positively by friends, family and work colleagues and the many allies in our community.

“There are many resources that allies can access online on how to be a good ally, even watching a programme on Netflix such as ‘Disclosure’ will go towards educating people on just some of the issues that trans people face.  Many trans people’s lives are like many others, we go to work, clean our house, make dinner, take the dog for a walk, have a glass of wine or watch a movie.  We just want to do these things as our authentic selves, it’s no biggie! – Happy Trans Awareness Week!”

Paul Bloomer, Co-Chair of the PSNI LGBT+ Network followed on with:

“I would like to take this chance to tell the Trans and non-binary people of our organisation that the LGBT+ Network is working with senior leaders to make this organisation a better place for Trans and non-binary people to work in. We need your help though, we need the voices and lived experience of Trans people to help us drive the positive change we need in this organisation. We have a reserved seat on our committee for a member of the Trans community and we would be delighted to welcome into that seat.”