Transgender Day of Visibility

Transgender Day of Visibility was March 31st. It's an annual day for trans awareness, education, and celebration. I decided to write about people's perception of us.

Artist unknown

We've always been here

You just chose not to see us

Chose to turn a blind eye

Rather than meet our gaze

Now

Tunnel vision

As you set us in your sight

Turn your crosshairs on us

We're more visible than ever

But visibility without protection

Is a dangerous game

Sometimes fatal

I'm trans and proud

Dangerously defiant

Conveniently cast as a villain

Spirit of the age manifested in the flesh

I am more visible than ever

And I refuse to shrink back to the shadows

Watch as the sun shines its favor on the privileged few

And lurk in shame

Watch as the world gets handed only to you

Bring me to the light

I won’t hiss or writhe in pain

You’ll have to dig me an early grave

To disappear me from view forever

While you’re unable to face your own reflection

Silence me by slicing my tongue

While you use God’s name in vain

Spit out his son’s too

As an excuse to deflect blame

You can’t erase us with hate

Solidarity with all my trans siblings

Fighting to take up space

While our bodies are occupied by the state

We’re more visible than ever

We rise in the east and set in the west

Ebb and flow like the tide

Dance dizzily in time with the turn of the Earth

We are inevitable

We who were and are and are to come

Count your blessings if you witness us

We'll always be here

Don’t blink and miss us

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