A Message from Diveristy & Inclusion: Transgender Awareness Week (Nov 13 – 19) and Trans Day of Remembrance (Nov 20)

Dear Colleagues,

Trans Awareness Week is observed from November 13 to 19 each year, leading up to Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20. This week is an opportunity to increase visibility and awareness of transgender communities and their resilience, further understanding the ongoing discrimination and transphobic violence folks encounter daily, and focus on what can be done to create inclusive spaces for 2 Spirit, trans and non-binary people – staff, artists, volunteers and visitors to the AGO.

What is Transgender Day of Remembrance?

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), which is observed worldwide, was founded by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honour Rita Hester, a transgender woman killed in 1998. This vigil commemorated all transgender people lost to violence that year and began an important memorial that has since become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

In remembering lives lost, the ongoing discrimination and transphobic violence experienced, and the continued advocacy work we must do institutionally and in our communities, here is a variety of AGO content and external resources to support your learning:

AGO Content

Workplace Inclusion for Gender and Sexual Diversity with Michelle Emson, Human Rights Activist, Egale Canada

Learning objective: This session is an introduction to 2SLGBTQI identities and common workplace inclusion practices that can be implemented.

Watch here

Access Passcode: AGOJun!0

Fireside Chat on Michelle’s Journey of Transition in the Workplace

Learning objective: This learning session will explore Michelle’s personal experience of transitioning in her workplace and the practices put in place to support her journey.

Watch here (available until September 2022)

Access Passcode: AGOS3pt!3

AGO Talks: Andy Warhol: Ladies and Gentlemen with AGO Associate Curator Kenneth Brummel, art historian Kirstin Ringelberg and artist and activist Ravyn Wngz in conversation about Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen 1975 portrait series of New York’s Latin and African-American drag queens and trans women, April 2021 (1 hr, 10 mins)

Online Event

The 519 Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), 2021

Watch

Sort of, CBC Gem TV Series (2021): Watch the trailer, Watch the TV series on CBC Gem

Co-created by Fab Filippo and Bilal Baig, who is Canada’s first queer, transfeminine, South Asian and Muslim actor in a primetime TV show, tells an authentic story based on characters navigating transitions in their lives.

Disclosure, Netflix (2020): Watch the trailer

Examining Hollywood’s depiction of transgender people and the impact it’s left on both the transgender community and American culture.

Miss Major with Kelendria Nation & Syrus Marcus Ware – Moving Trans History Forward, 2021 (1hr, 28 mins)

Speech by Ravyn Wngz for Trans Day Of Remembrance in November 2020 hosted by The 519 in reference of All Black Trans Lives Matter, 2020 (10 mins)

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, Netflix (2017): Watch the trailer

Filmmakers re-examine the 1992 death of transgender legend Marsha P. Johnson, who was found floating in the Hudson River. Originally ruled a suicide, many in the community believe she was murdered.