The leader of Trans Day of Visibility celebrates the 15th anniversary of the event on Lansing’s Capitol methods.

“In 2009, I had another crafty idea”.

On a cold, wet Saturday, roughly 150 people gathered on the Capitol actions in Lansing to mark the 15th celebration of what has since grown to be an international event, Rachel Crandall-Crocker described her enthusiasm for a Trans Day of Visibility.

Crandall-Crocker, the executive producer of Transgender Michigan, came out as trans in 1997, and spoke to the group about how that decision saved her life, but even led to her losing her career, money, house and wife at the time.

“But, was that gonna stop me? No”! Crandall-Crocker’s words boomed out over the Capitol grass into central Lansing, echoing off of the buildings, and reverberating up onto the group.

“Right after I was fired, I thought, ‘What can I do to make this so it won’t have to happen to everyone?’ And I had a dream, she said, “To make Transgender Michigan,” referring to the philanthropic organization that works to consolidate and advance gender-neutral and transgender people and communities throughout the state.

But she then received that next thought.

“I wanted a time that we could come up all over the world”, said Crandall-Crocker. “I wanted a day that we could enjoy. I hoped for a day when we could be pleased. And I had called that day the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which by the way, I am presently calling it the month of awareness!”

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The group of LGBTQ+ people, activists and supporters cheered.

I want you to be aware that you do not need to be great to make a difference in the world. I have Tourette symptoms. I am no proficient. Nevertheless, I created an international action, and if I may change the world, you may change the world. But somebody, come and change the world along with me”, said Crandall-Crocker.

But, that optimism was tempered by the fact of the political and social forces at work to claim the transgender and nonbinary area, as well as the LGBTQ+ movement in general, equal privileges.

“We are a community that loses so many people that we have our own annual day for mourning, which is why today is a celebration because we know that every other day we recognize the obstacles”, said state Rep. Emily Dievendorf (D-Lansing), Michigan’s first out nonbinary legislator.

Dievendorf claimed that everyone present at the event was aware in some way that the transgender and nonbinary community was being used as a pawn by officials and others to try to divide society, despite the fact that the majority of people didn’t treatment if they lived as their real authentic self.

“I know what it is, and you know what it is to have people treat us like we’re unwanted and vile when we know, god gracious, how wonderful it is”, they said. What I find fascinating is how wonderful it is to be and love oneself without having to put your weight in the bins and categories and descriptions that people put up to make you understand them.

Every year on March 31st, Trans Day of Visibility takes place. In 2024, it coincides with Easter. President Joe Biden issued a declaration on Friday, stating: “Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation. Whether serving their communities or in the defense, raising people or running firms, they help America thrive. They deserve, and are entitled to, the equal rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most important flexibility to become their true self”.

Former President Donald Trump spokesman Karoline Leavitt said the president does “issue an explanation to the thousands of Christians and Catholics across America who believe tomorrow is for one party simply — the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

After the rally, Dievendorf told the Michigan Advance that despite there having been significant progress in Michigan since last year’s Trans Day of Visibility, including the expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) to add protections against discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation and the ban of conversion therapy for minors, there was still much work to be done.

According to Dievendorf, “I’m focused on the name change legislation that’s coming up,” he said of bills that would ease people’s choices regarding the sex marker they feel is appropriate on their birth certificate and driver’s license as well as remove some of the requirements placed on Michiganders when they change their name after marriage.

We’ve already passed it through the House, but I personally am working most on trans sanctuary to make sure that we can protect people who come here because they want fair access to health care, which is exactly what it is. Equitable access to necessary health care for everybody in Michigan, regardless of your gender, said Dievendorf.

Grace Bacon, 83, who is widely regarded as the mother of the Michigan transgender community, touched on that subject.

Nobody ever warned me that moving as old is going to hurt so much, Bacon said.

She had both hips replaced and needed recovery time after the three days that the hospital would provide, according to Bacon, who founded Crossroads in 1977, the first support group for Michigan’s transgender community.

“My doctor and the nurses in the hospital gave me a list of convalescent facilities in the Detroit area, and there were about 35 or 40 of them,” said Bacon. And I asked them, would any one of these people have problems knowing that I’m transgender?”

Bacon claimed that she ended up in a facility that accepted who she was, but Bacon claimed that this was the case and not always the case.

“We need a facility somewhere in Michigan for people who are recovering from surgical procedures where they’re welcome, where they’ll get the proper treatment and they’ll be appreciated,” she said. “Right now we don’t have any such thing.”

Derek Davis of Detroit is Mr. Trans Michigan 2024, and will be competing this November in the Trans USA Pageant in Milwaukee, as will Lyndsey Taylor, also of Detroit, who is Miss Trans Michigan 2024.

Davis used his time at the podium to urge those present to ensure that they surrounded themselves with loving and affirming family members, whether they were their biological parents or their “found” family.

I’ve had incredibly supportive friends and a lot of family around me, Davis said. I can assure you that I do love myself. I adore both the woman and the man I’ve grown up to be. Without her, I would not be the man I am today. It has become my goal to create safe spaces for those who do n’t have them because of my blessings and good fortune as a trans man. I want people to know that we are loved for who we are. You deserve space to be loved, safe, and yourself. Finding your tribe is important, and sometimes it takes a while, but look for them. Once you find them, you’ll feel like you’re home.”

Taylor claimed that the Saturday event needed to dispel the myths that have for too long divided the trans and nonbinary community.

“For us, we are thriving, successful individuals, just like any person among our community,” she said, adding that the biggest misconception is that they are somehow taboo”. That we are night creatures, but we are living amongst everyone, just as each and every one of you’re doing today.”

Crandall-Crocker told the Advance how significant a change the movement had experienced since she first introduced the Trans Day of Visibility.

“Oh my God, it’s wonderful. It really makes me feel heard, and it makes me feel wanted, and it makes me feel like the leader. I cannot believe I started an international movement,” she said while laughing.

Her wife, Susan Crocker, who serves as Transgender Michigan’s operations director, said the idea to call it an international event wasn’t necessarily because they thought it would literally go worldwide.

We called it international because we believed someone might be interested in Windsor or Sarnia, Canada, but now we see our name in Vietnamese-written articles and receive calls from places like Uganda, Kosovo, Uzbekistan, and other places we can’t pronounce, she said.

When Crocker-Crandall was asked if making it a global phenomenon was on her mind back in 2009 when she first had that” sneaky idea, “she was quick to answer”, Oh, no, it wasn’t,”before pausing and letting a sly smile come across her face.

“Or, I could tell you, ‘Oh, yes, it was,’ I planned it right from the very start. I’m really smart!”

And she let out another laugh.