Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated internationally on March 31. In Wilkes-Barre, the community gathered on Public Square Saturday, March 30, despite the cold and rainy day.
Rachel Crandall-Crocker, a psychotherapist and the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Transgender Michigan, started the day of visibility in 2009. She wanted to set aside a day to celebrate joy within the transgender and LGBTQ+ community.
We asked people at the Wilkes-Barre celebration what being seen means to them.
Lain Kaplan
I was working in Japan at the time and I told (my boss) look, I'm a trans person and I want to come out. My boss said no. I went to my doctor, I said I want to do some medical transitioning to be more happy with my body. My doctor said go home. Lots of doors have been shoved in my face and I've been fired for just being myself at jobs before. There's lots of hardship. But I was able to get back to something that I'm really skilled at - I'm a really good teacher. And once I was able to show people, yeah, I know what I'm doing, I was able to make room for myself and get myself out there to the point where I can just be myself as much as I want.
It's an everyday thing, the sense of euphoria. It's like I tried a new thing with eyeshadow today, that's fun. I was able to work with a bunch of new people and come out to them and be the first trans person that they know. Since I was able to get them to recognize, oh, well Lain's a cool girl, then the next person they talk to isn't going to be all that weird to them.
Ethan Emker
For me, growing up seeing other trans people being out and proud, even before I had the courage to do it myself made me feel like I wasn't alone and being seen and visible. I work in a hospital, so whenever I have trans patients.. I'll kind of be like, hey, and drop a little hint. And just like the relief that goes over people's faces when they're like, okay, I don't have to explain that to you - that's why it's important for me to be not just trans, but like, visibly trans to give other people that feeling that I had.
I've been out for a little bit now. But I went out with some of my friends, and we're all trans. Just being able to not worry about like, oh should I wear this? Should I not wear that? Are they going to misgender me if wear this? Just being in community together and having that freedom to express yourself and not be worried is very liberating.
Stephanie Kolakowski
I came out 11 months ago and this is my wife of four years. It was an epiphany moment when push came to shove. I was like, no, you know what, I can't keep this in. We had a talk and all my fears laid on the table. I pretty much thought I was going to end up divorced...but instead it was an honest communication. It was understanding, it was acceptance.
If anything, it brought us to a whole different playing field and a whole new level in our marriage and our relationship and it's fantastic.
You don't read about the positive side of what could happen. It's always the negative. I did not see it coming but it's fantastic. It's definitely a blessing.
Alec Walker-Serrano
This time last year we were hosting our first Trans Day of Visibility event and it was very similar to this. My intention was to just bring people together to feel safe. There has been an uptick in anti-trans legislation and hate, so I really wanted a day devoid of that where we could come together as a community.
I wasn't sure what the turnout would be like. I didn't think we would get 50-60 people there and that made me feel very seen and it just felt incredible to be around community.
It fills me with love. It makes me feel hopeful, like things can get better even though we're going through some dark times right now as a community. It really just gives me the drive to keep pushing forward for myself and for others.
Christina Suraci
I'm very active in the LGBTQ community, and I always try to give back any time I can. Anytime there's an event or something, I'm there.
I think (visibility) means being surrounded by friends and family, and people that love you and support you.
Caro Virone
We both identify as queer people...and we're also in healthcare. We're in medical school, so it's really important to us to support, especially the NEPA community where there's not a lot of representation for trans and queer youth and trans and queer adults. We wanted to support the community and show our solidarity as future healthcare professionals. We're creating a safe space in healthcare for everyone, no matter how they identify.
Annie Shields
A lot of it for me personally is healthcare-based - we don't see a lot of representation in those areas and we're not taught a lot about that. We're both new to the Scranton area, so as important as it is for us to celebrate, we're also just looking for our own community.
Gale
It's my first time coming. I've been to other queer stuff in the area, but this is the first time I've been to a trans thing. It's really nice to see how big the community is here.
We're a progressive state, but I've gotten called slurs often in the street because I dress feminine. It's really nice to be around other trans people. I really enjoy it, it's very comfortable.
Theo
I actually came to the event that Alec (Walker-Serrano) organized last year. It gave me a very large sense of hope just to see how much the community came out in Scranton. It was a bit of a bigger crowd, but it's nice to see that people are even here today with tomorrow being Easter - last year it didn't fall like that. It's very nice to be out here, being a trans man, just having a sense of community locally is very nice.
