Transgender Awareness Week runs from 13-19 November each year and is a one-week awareness and celebration event.

The week is focused on highlighting both the steps forward and the unfinished work in the fight for transgender and non-binary equality.

It leads up to Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on November 20. On this day, victims of transphobic violence are commemorated.

TDOR raise awareness of the transgender community through education and advocacy activities. It’s a day to honour those who have been killed or have taken their own lives as a result of transphobia.

Transgender Awareness Week aims to educate the wider community about transgender and gender non-conforming people. Alongside the issues associated with their transition and/or identity.

It’s a period to learn more about who transgender people are and to read about their stories and experiences. It aims to advance advocacy around the issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community.

Want to know more about transgender people?

The term ‘transgender’, or more commonly known as ‘trans’, is an umbrella term used to describe a person whose gender identity is not the same as the sex they were assigned at birth.

Trans may also include non-binary people who do not fall into the binary categories of man/woman or male/female. Non-binary people may feel they are not exclusively male or female and may embody elements of both.

Being transgender does not imply any specific sexual orientation. A trans person can be gay, straight, bisexual, lesbian or any other sexual orientation. You cannot tell if a person is trans just by looking at them; trans people do not look a certain way or come from any one background.