March 31 is the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV). The day was founded by transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009 as a reaction to the lack of LGBT recognition of transgender people. The first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009.
This day is an annual event dedicated to celebrate and raise awareness of discrimination faced by transgender and gender-diverse people worldwide.
Transgender and gender-diverse sex workers face violence on a large scale. They are criminalized and experience multiple stigma for who they are and for the work they do-sex work.
Programs and frameworks have ignored the unique and specific needs of transgender and gender-diverse sex workers.Transgender and gender-diverse sex workers are invisible in health care frameworks and programming, legal frameworks and other programming while super visible in violence and rights violations.
ASWA is aware that there is a lot of pressure on trans and gender-diverse sex workers to conform, change and prove their gender to others. We believe that all transgender and gender-diverse sex workers, regardless of identity, expression, or orientation, are enough just as they are. Therefore, for TDoV 2022, we would like to help empower transgender and gender-diverse sex workers to celebrate who they are, and encourage allies to voice solidarity with them.
We dedicate the International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) to celebrate transgender and gender-diverse sex workers in Africa while raising awareness of their rights and needs that still need to be met.
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