Trans Support Day took a three-year break as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Syracuse University’s Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Trans Team hosted an inspiring event in 2023.
More than 250 people, including individuals, couples, families, and children, attended the Trans Support Day in April 2023, and planner Tristan Martin, Ph.D. According to the Trans Team, it will attempt to surpass the participation from the previous year at the 2024 function. Trans Support Day will take place this year from noon to 4 p.m. on March 23 at Peck Hall, 601 E. Genesee St. northeast of the Syracuse University school. The celebration is open to the public and is free.
According to Martin, an assistant teaching professor in the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics’ Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, “I think it will be a really powerful community event like it was last year.” This event provides a space filled with optimism, community support, and hope.”
Trans Support Day took place in Syracuse University’s Peck Hall in city Rome on April 20, 2023, attended by more than 250 people, including persons, couples, parents, and children.
Trans Support Day guests will have the chance to connect with native trans-affirming organizations and experts this year; obtain legal documentation that includes the name and gender; access to free beauty and clothes; obtain completely locks, hammer, and makeup services; entry trans-affirming goods; receive medical guidance from parents of transgender youth; and provide a space for children to interact.
The Trans Team has invited two internationally renowned native doctors to share their knowledge with visitors interested in gender-affirming surgery as a new element. The guests may include staff from Sage Upstate, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning people in Central New York as they age as well as post-surgical companies from Upstate University Hospital’s Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Program and Hand Rehabilitation Program.
Martin believes that transgender people in the United States are more important than ever because they are victims of political and congressional discrimination. More than 500 bills have been introduced in over 40 states, claiming to prohibit trans people from receiving standard healthcare, legitimate recognition, and the right to exist freely in public, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker. In 2023, many similar charges were passed into law.
One of the few states without anti-trans legislation charges has been New York. However, accessing tools like those offered at Trans Support Day continues to be challenging for transgender individuals everyday.
“In my clinical practice, I communicate with other therapists, and we frequently work together with other local experts and providers,” Martin says. “I did, however, discover that frequently consumers are unaware of the services and connections District has to offer them.”
Martin continues, “I wanted to make an event that brought people together in a single place.” Despite our differing areas of expertise and experience, we all share a common goal: to promote and advance the transgender community.”
Ph.D., Deborah Coolhart D. The Trans Team was established in 2004 by an MFT associate doctor. The team is a member of the Peck Hall Couple and Family Therapy Center at Syracuse University, and members of the team receive specialized training in providing gender-affirmative therapy to transgender people and their families as well as help with the preparation for the health gender transition.
According to Coolhart, Martin and marriage and family counseling students, faculty, and employees made the 2023 Trans Support Day a great success. The event is growing significantly and assisting more people of the transgender group. In the previous Trans Support Day in 2019, the attendance was 40 people.
“This event is important and unique because the current political climate for trans people is threatening and frightening,” Coolhart said after the event last year. “I could see on the eyes of the visitors how grateful, validated, and supported they felt because they had a place that celebrated them and connected them to the resources they needed, in a culture that frequently does not welcome trans people.”
