Like most trans communities, we in SAGA observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th, to memorialize those among us who met untimely and violent demise in the preceding year. After many years‘ tribute, however, a number of us felt that the event was too bleak to stand alone as the highest expression of trans solidarity.

Trans Awareness Week thus came about because we believed that if trans folks only got to be in the spotlight once a year, we wanted it to celebrate the talent, beauty, and diversity that is the trans and allied community.

Tucson was one of the first cities in the country to add gender identity to its anti-discrimination protection. In 1999, there was an effort to add some new categories to the City ordinance, but gender identity was not on the list. When the late Alexander John Goodrum got wind of this, he went to the meeting to ask why not. When he asked why not, the answer was not “We don’t have enough votes” or “We don’t think Tucson is ready for that.”

The answer was, no one thought of it. No one told us we needed to. When Alexander gave them gift of Awareness, our progressive city’s leaders saw this as a no-brainer and passed the new ordinance with a unanimous vote.

Click here for the pictures of Trans Awareness Week 2008.