Trans Awareness Week, held annually from 13-19 November in the run up to Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), aims to increase the visibility of issues that trans and gender diverse communities face across the world.
An issue that affects trans and gender diverse communities across the globe is lack of access to resources: to education, to capacity building, to financial resources. In order to make an impact on tackling these issues, GATE has created an online open-access learning center, GATE eLearning Institute, targeting key issues relevant to our communities in an effort to build capacity and increase access to education and resources.
GATE eLearning Institute currently hosts 6 online training courses on a variety of topics: from writing grant proposals to creating an organizational safety, security and wellbeing plan; from engaging in processes for developing HIV National Strategic Plans to implementing an advocacy plan; and from conducting a community needs assessment to undertaking community-led monitoring.
In addition to these courses, GATE wrote a report for the WHO Key Populations Guidelines that researched Trans and Gender Diverse Values and Preferences for HIV, Hepatitis and STI Services. This community-based and community-led report draws out key issues relevant to our communities that link effective HIV service delivery to the provision of hormone replacement therapy. As several community members expressed during the undertaking of this research, “I want to live, but I want to live as my true self”.
We encourage you to explore our new GATE eLearning Institute and share the Trans and Gender Diverse Values and Preferences for HIV, Hepatitis and STI Services report!
Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR)
At the end of Trans Awareness Week is Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), held each year on 20 November to remember trans and gender diverse people who were murdered in the past year. TDoR highlights the very present reality of violence that targets our communities as a result of systemic stigma, discrimination and misinformation.
The Trans Murder Monitoring project received reports of 327 murders of trans and gender diverse people between 1 October 2021 and 30 September 2022. Of these, 95% were trans women or trans feminine people; 50% whose occupation was known were sex workers; and of the cases with data on race and ethnicity, racialized trans people made up 65%.
We have created a joint statement (available from 19 November 5pm CET) with our partners, highlighting the need for more vocal allyship in the form of verbal, social, and financial support for trans and gender diverse communities across the globe. If you would like to sign onto the statement, you can fill out the form and join the statement. This form closes on 17 November 6pm CET, so be sure to join before then!