It’s Transgender Awareness Week – here’s why that matters

Every year Transgender Awareness Week takes place on or around the second week of November, which also happens to be Transgender Awareness Month. The dates are the 13th to the 19th of November.

Trans Awareness Week takes place annually in November. It starts in the second week of November, this year it starts on the 13th / 14th depending on whether you’re in the US or UK. The week tries to help raise the visibility of transgender people within society and highlight some of the issues and discrimination that transgender people face.

The week ends with the Transgender Day Of Remembrance. A solemn day of memorial for all the transgender people who have lost their lives to violence. The Transgender Day Of Remembrance takes place on the 20th of November.

Transgender Awareness Week is an opportunity for Transgender people, their allies, and activists to share their stories and experiences with a wider audience.

When did the first Transgender Awareness Week take place?

The very first Transgender Awareness Week took place in

It’s actually unknown when the first Transgender Awareness Week took place however we do know that the first Transgender Day of Remembrance took place in 1999, and was founded by a small group, including Gwendolyn Ann Smith, to memorialize the murder of a transgender woman Rita Hester in Allston, Massachusetts.

The Transgender Day Of Visibility, which was founded in the US by transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009 took place in 2009.

How many people are transgender in the UK?

There are approximately 200,000-500,000 trans people in the UK

According to the UK Government

There is very little data about how many people are transgender or non-binary or gender non-conforming in the UK. According to the government, “No robust data on the UK trans population exists. We tentatively estimate that there are approximately 200,000-500,000 trans people in the UK.”

In 2021 the National Census included, for the first time, questions regarding a person’s sexuality and gender status. A clear sense of how many LGBT+ people who live in the UK will become available during 2022 and 2023.

Since it was possible to legally change your gender in the UK in 2004 over 4,910 trans people have been issued a Gender Recognition Certificate. 

12% of trans respondents to the National LGBT survey who had started or completed their transition had successfully obtained one, and 7% of those who knew about them but did not have or had not applied for one said they would not be interested in obtaining one.