On March 31 each year, Trans Day of Visibility is celebrated. In 2024, Easter falls on the same day. Reflecting on this clash, the United Church of Christ’s Minister for Gender and Sexuality Justice Ministries, Rachael Ward, offers a remark on the value of Easter this year for LGBTQ+ individuals— and transgender and non-linear people in particular.
LGBTQ+ people need a resurrection moment where death does not have the word and love transcends hate because Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) falls on Easter this year.
Trans advocates started TDOV in 2010 because they saw no need to focus solely on highlighting the assault against transgender people.
Christ’s dying is terrible, stemming from prosecution of distinction, led by kingdom. And Christ’s resurrection continues to be a spot gay people find trust in their bodies, minds, and spirits, transcending instances of unfairness and floods of love.
The resurrection account teaches the greatest promise and reality to LGBTQ+ people of faith: God is always coming out for your like and personhood. And God is well aware of how painful it is when those around us refuse to acknowledge our individual rights and connection with one another.
Reincarnation on Easter Sunday might seem like a way to encourage non-binary and transgender relatives while also making room for God’s gifts to be celebrated.
For TDOV this year, I’m considering what it means for transgender sisters to reanimate into their happiness on this planet best now. For transgender siblings to no longer be buried in tombs and forced to dress in unauthentic ways. No longer tucked in a monument, they are now forced to keep their names and adjectives a secret out of fear of being bullied. No longer tucked in a monument, they are forced to follow laws that attempt to defuse the Imago Dei within them.
This season, for TDOV, Easter’s reincarnation is a kaleidoscope of gay pleasure and weight. Easter’s reincarnation is a sign that when God came out for mankind in total love, He meant each and every one of us.
Advocacy for transgender and quasi-linear rights
Transgender and non-binary people are adored by God, made in his picture, and deserving of equal protection under the law.
By urging Congress to pass the Transgender Bill of Rights and the Equality Act, you can take action to assist transgender and non-binary people.
The Transgender Bill of Rights (HR 269/SR 144) recognizes the federal government’s duty in protecting and codifying the rights of transgender and non-binary people, and ensuring they have access to medical care, shelter, safety, and economic security. The Justice Act (HB 15/SB 5) would provide consistent anti-bias protections for all LGBTQ+ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, funds, education, public areas and service, federally funded programs, and jury service.
The UCC Gender and Sexuality Justice Ministries team even invites you to our webcast,” Advocacy 101: Communal Care for Trans & Non-Linear Siblings”, on April 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET, where we will path through our late created” Love is Louder” toolbox. Register here.
In memory of Nex Benedict, who died Feb. 8 in Owasso, Oklahoma, you can participate in Transgender Day of Visibility by sending a letter or artwork to Freedom Oklahoma’s TDOV Community Art Project here.
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