84 Trans Stories from Western Pennsylvania on the Trans Day of Visibility

This is a collage of some trans contributors to the project. It is not intended to be a literal representation of each individual contributor, particularly as some folks have chosen to protect their privacy.

March 31 is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, devoted to raising the visibility of transgender and gender nonconforming (GNC) neighbors both in terms of their resiliency and successes as well as the realities of transphobic bias and violence.

I’ve curated 84 stories from our #AMPLIFY project to illustrate the multi-faceted experiences of transgender neighbors in Western Pennsylvania. Our project asks people to describe their own identity so it is possible there are other trans voices amongst the narrative, but these self-identified contributors represent 26% of our total contributors. Data from 2016 shows that about .6% of adults living in the United States identify as transgender so the trans community is well-represented in the AMPLIFY data.

Thanks to them, you have a snapshot of the lived experiences of 84 trans neighbors in their own voices. I hope you will some time to browse their Q&A’s and absorb some of the wisdom they’ve shared with all of us.

And we’d love to include your story as we move forward. Click here to fill out the Q&A. It takes about 30 minutes of your time. You can control what name you use and make the decision about using a photo. Anyone who meets these criteria can contribute

• Identify as part of the LGBTQ…