Celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31

The City of West Hollywood and its Transgender Advisory Board will recognize the annual International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) with a week-long celebration beginning Thursday, March 31, 2022, which is recognized as Transgender Day of Visibility. This year, the West Hollywood City Council has elected to provide a week-long celebration to offer increased visibility to the transgender community at a time when transgender rights continue to be under attack throughout the country and worldwide.

The City Council, at its March 21, 2022 meeting, issued a proclamation to commemorate TDOV and the City will celebrate the transgender community during the week of March 31 through April 7, 2022 by flying the Transgender flag over City Hall and along the medians of Santa Monica Boulevard, and will light both City Hall and the lanterns over Santa Monica Boulevard on the City’s west side in blue, pink, and white, which are the colors of the transgender flag. In addition, the City will also highlight Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming leaders beginning on March 31 on its website at www.weho.org/lgbtq.

 The City’s Arts Division will also be supporting several arts projects featuring transgender artists. The WallSpace Gallery, located at 7701 Santa Monica Boulevard will hold a Transgender Day of Visibility celebration on March 31, 2022 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. featuring the As We Are, Pillars of Societyart exhibit. This art exhibit brings together community artists and allies to artistically depict trans visibility through creative direction, photography, mixed media, and fashion. The programming begins in West Hollywood in honor of TDOV on March 31 and continues through April 15, 2022 at the following locations: WallSpace, located at 7701 Santa Monica Boulevard; Art Angels Gallery, located at 9020 Beverly Boulevard; and bG Gallery, located at 2525 Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica.

On Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 6 p.m., as part of the City’s WeHo Reads series, there will be a poetry reading featuring four trans poets in a reading and dialogue about the future and the intersections of science fiction and poetry, activism, and language. Curated and hosted by West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace, readers include Ryka Aoki, LA-based poet and author of the new sci-fi novel Light from Uncommon Stars, Harry Josephine Giles, Scottish poet and author of Deep Wheel Orcadia, in conversation with young poets, along with organizers Simba the Poet (Nashville) and Ava Dadvand (from Los Angeles, currently writing and studying at Yale). The event, titled WeHo Reads: Trans | Future | Poetics, will take place online and is free to attend. For more information and to RSVP: www.weho.org/wehoreads. The event can be viewed on the City of West Hollywood Arts Division’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/wehoarts.

The City of West Hollywood has been one of the most outspoken cities in the nation in advocating for the legal rights of LGBTQ people. More than 40 percent of residents in the City of West Hollywood identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The City of West Hollywood is one of the first municipalities to form a Transgender Advisory Board, which addresses matters of advocacy on behalf of transgender people in the areas of education, community awareness, and empowerment, and makes recommendations to the West Hollywood City Council. Through its Transgender Advisory Board, the City of West Hollywood regularly co-sponsors programming, which includes a job fair organized by the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Transgender Economic Empowerment Project in order to connect transgender women and men with employment resources and opportunities. The City also recognizes Transgender Awareness Month and Transgender Day of Remembrance each November.

As part of its support of the transgender community, the City of West Hollywood has a Transgender Resource Guide available on the City’s website, which provides information about a variety of resources including legal, health, and social services, available in the Greater Los Angeles area to enhance and improve the well-being of transgender people. There is also specific information for transgender service members and veterans with legal questions.

For more information about the City of West Hollywood and Transgender Day of Visibility and the City’s Transgender Advisory Board, please contact Moya Márquez, the City of West Hollywood’s Community Programs Coordinator, at mmarquez@weho.org  or (323) 848-6574. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

The City of West Hollywood remains in a declared local emergency in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. West Hollywood City Hall is open for in-person transactions by appointment. Visitors to City Hall and City facilities are required to adhere to vaccine verification requirements. Click here for details. To make an appointment, visit www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services remain accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via the City’s website at www.weho.org. City of West Hollywood coronavirus information is available at www.weho.org/coronavirus.

For up-to-date news and events, follow the City of West Hollywood on social media @WeHoCity, sign up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar.