By the Office on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity
A time to honor the memory of those whose lives have been lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
Transgender Day of Remembrance is an opportunity for communities to come together and remember transgender and gender-nonconforming people who have been murdered, often very brutally, for challenging ideas about what it means to be male or female, or something else. It is an opportunity not only to pause to remember those we have lost, but to help raise awareness about the persistent stigma and discrimination experienced by this community, and to help do something about it. Around the world, communities have planned vigils to come together and remember those who have died in the past year. The International Transgender Day of Remembranceopens in new window website has information about event locations and also lists scores of the many trans men and women who lost their lives so far in 2016. APA has made significant contributions to help meet the need, most recently through the adoption of the August 2015 "Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Peopleopens in new window" (PDF, 616.32KB) intended to help professionals and others better understand the lifespan development, stigma, discrimination and barriers to care faced by transgender and gender nonconforming people. Additional APA resources for psychologists, students and the general public include the following:
- "Report by the Task Force on Gender Identity and Gender Variance," a six-member task force spent more than two years reviewing the scientific literature, as well as APA policies regarding transgender issues. It was also charged with developing recommendations for education, professional training and further research into transgenderism, and proposing how APA can best meet the needs of psychologists and students who identify as transgender or gender-variant.
- The Resolution on Transgender, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Nondiscriminationopens in new window calls on APA to: support legal and social recognition of transgender individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression; support the provision of adequate and medically necessary treatment for transgender and gender-variant people; recognize the benefit and necessity of gender transition treatments for appropriately evaluated individuals; call on public and private insurers to cover these treatments.
- Public information brochure, "Answers to your Questions About Transgender People, Gender Identity and Gender Expression," now available in the following languages: - Arabicopens in new window (PDF, 191KB), Traditional Chineseopens in new window (PDF, 376KB), Simplified Chineseopens in new window (PDF, 297KB), Englishopens in new window (PDF, 206KB), Russianopens in new window (PDF, 140KB) and Spanishopens in new window (PDF, 568KB).
- The Div. 44 Committee for Transgender People and Gender Diversity has created the "Fact Sheet: Gender Diversity and Transgender Identity in Adolescentsopens in new window" (PDF, 130KB) and the "Fact Sheet: Gender Diversity and Transgender Identity in Childrenopens in new window" (PDF, 75KB).
If there is an event in your community, go. Allies in this struggle are critical and we would love to hear about your experience. Whether there is an event in your community or not, consider how you can help spread the word about APA’s educational resources — and that is something that can be done any day of the year.