International Transgender Day of Visibility isn’t until Monday, but some organizations were celebrating early over the weekend.
Trans joy took over The Green Room in San Francisco with music, food and awards for people in the community.
Mar Omega Williams is a musician, a community activist and a trans woman with big goals.
“We’re going to save the world,” Williams said.
Williams helped organize this Trans Day of Visibility celebration. The event highlights local transgender achievements and initiatives and featured activists and artists. Williams was one of them.
Williams transitioned just four years ago and it changed her life.
“It was just like the most freeing thing because before I used to disassociate just to get through every day and that’s not healthy at all,” Williams said.
She grew up in Vacaville and says there wasn’t much trans representation there. Moving to San Francisco and creating music helped give her the confidence to find herself.
“To be a part of that is really soul nourishing and I can’t believe that it’s real, and it is real because we’re out here together and you just need to find each other,” Williams said.
Dozens of organizations were a part of putting on the event, including San Francisco Pride, the San Francisco Aids Foundation and San Francisco Trans March.
Eli Berry with the Trans March says this event is different than most trans events.
“Usually a lot of what we say when it comes to the visibility of trans people is about death so this event is to celebrate our accomplishments, our joy, our resilience and beyond,” Berry said.
He says after President Trump was elected in November the trans community needs more visibility to maintain their safety.
“This administration, straight out the gate, is not playing, like ‘oh no, we don’t like you all and these are all the things we’re going to take from you and you shouldn’t exist and we’re going to make it very hard for you to exist’,” Berry said.
“Our community is severely under attack by the administration right now,” said Williams. “They say, first they come for the trans, then they come for the Muslims, then they come for the Jews, then they come for the immigrants, they’re going to come for all of us.”
Williams is concerned the trans community will continue to be targeted over the next 3 and a half years, but she says she believes they will be able to get through it together.
“I’m scared there’s going to be more, but I’m not scared of fighting that either,” Williams said.
While Trans Day of Visibility is just one day of the year, the community is always working to make sure trans people are recognized every day.
