By Mabel Wellman, co-founder, Trans Pride Southampton.
On Tuesday the 31st March 2026 Transgender Day Of Visibility (TDOV) will be celebrated internationally.
TDOV is a day to raise awareness about the struggles transgender people face in our day to day lives, and celebrate the contributions that trans people make towards the lives of others.
I wrote last year that it is a very hard time to be transgender, and that’s still the case.
In the US, trans people in Kansas have recently had their driver’s licenses invalidated if they had changed their gender marker to match how they identify rather than show their birth sex. This is forcing trans Kansans to either surrender their ID (to be given a new identity which misgenders them) or face up to 6 months in prison or a $1000 fine.
Similarly in the UK it is a very worrying time to be visible (either by choice to be out and proud or by being identified by others as a trans person). According to Stonewall, reported hate crimes from trans people have nearly doubled in the past five years.
Meanwhile, in India, there is also an ongoing parliamentary debate which seeks to amend their laws and roll back trans rights, making it harder to be recognised as trans – which could reduce protections for thousands of people.
Despite all of this, I think Trans Day Of Visibility is a day the community should embrace, rather than shy away from. We live in a scary time but being trans has never been a teddy bear’s picnic.
Every time we come together we create grassroots organisations; we help queer people who are still fighting with who they are to see that they can be happy if they accept themselves; and we create long lasting friendships which can endure the hardships we face in the here and now.
This Trans Day Of Visibility I am very happy that, alongside my colleagues in Trans Pride Southampton, we are organising a social in the centre of Southampton for trans people to network, make friends, and socialise.
We had our first ever indoor holding of Trans Day of Remembrance in November last year in Southampton.
This night is by far one of hardest for trans people, where we read the names and honour the lives of trans people who had been killed or died by suicide in the past year – in which some names at that point had been read, spoken, and remembered for the last time. As organisers we were very touched by how many trans people came and stayed into the night to drink and eat and get to know people in their area. So for TDOV we are hoping to achieve the same warm welcoming environment to tackle loneliness in the trans community and foster empowerment.
The event will be held on the 31st March 2026 in Southampton’s city centre. Follow Trans Pride Southampton online for more details.
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