What to read and watch for Trans Day of Remembrance
November is Trans Awareness month, and Wednesday 20 November is Trans Day of Remembrance. Today, we honour those whose lives were stolen through acts of anti-trans violence in the past, we highlight the perspectives and realities of trans people in the present, and we reflect on how we can be part of fighting for a more equitable and just future.
You can find out more about Trans Day of Remembrance on the GLAAD website.
Reading and watching the stories of trans people is critical to the work of equity and inclusion. We have hundreds of resources in our collection by trans people, about trans people. Here is a selected list of documentaries and books you can access for free with your Deakin Library credentials.
What to watch
This award-winning documentary is about the late Georgina Beyer, a transgender woman of Māori descent and former sex worker who was elected to the New Zealand Government by a largely white, rural electorate in the 1990s. Georgina was an inspiration to many, an example of a courageous individual who overcame adversity, marginalisation and discrimination.
You can find out more about Georgina Beyer in this One from the vaults podcast episode with Morgan M Page: OFTV 6: The Art Of The Possible.
Alexandre is a transgender person who has lived with his girlfriend Marie for more than seven years. Because of the mark “female” in his passport and his trans identity, Alexandre cannot find a job and has to lead a secret life. The violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity brings the couple to the decision to leave their homeland. To afford this exodus, Marie signs a contract to be a surrogate mother.
An intimate and cinematic profile of 4 transgender women that come out for the first time in their senior years. Set against the backdrop of logging towns in the Pacific Northwest, the visceral and observational story captures the indelible moment in time as they begin the long journey towards acceptance.
Coming out as trans after decades of hiding from those closest to them, theirs is a story not of transitioning into womanhood, but rather explores what it means to leave behind living as a man.
In the 1950s and ’60s, an underground network of transgender women and cross-dressing men found refuge at a house in the Catskills region of New York. Known as Casa Susanna, the house provided a safe place to express their true selves. Told through the memories of those who visited, including the late Katherine Cummings from Australia, the film looks back at a secret world where the persecuted and frightened found freedom and acceptance.
You can find out more about Katherine Cummings in her human rights award winning memoir in our collection: Katherine’s diary : the story of a transsexual / Katherine Cummings.
Even when we choose to be our most authentic selves in our lives, how will we be remembered in death?
Fidelia is arranging her best friend Alma’s funeral, only to have Alma’s parents arrive from Mexico and insist their son be buried as a male. In this heartbreaking story of strong emotions, memory, and truth, Alma’s friends pull together to honour both the parents’ wishes and those of Alma herself.
Julie Peters is a legend in the trans community in Australia and was the first person to transition at the ABC. Over the years she’s collected one of the most comprehensive trans archives in the country and this short documentary gives you a look inside this important archive and is a gateway to some local trans histories.
You can find out more about Julie Peters’ archive in this Archive Fever podcast episode Live: Queering the Archive — ARCHIVE FEVER and check out her research in our collection: A feminist post-transsexual autoethnography : challenging normative gender coercion / Julie Elizabeth Peters
What to read
- Trap door: trans cultural production and the politics of visibility edited by Tourmaline, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton
- Gender: a graphic guide by Meg-John Barker, Jules Scheele
- A short history of trans misogyny by Jules Gill-Peterson
- Who’s afraid of gender? by Judith Butler
- Histories of the transgender child by Julian Gill-Peterson
- The two revolutions: a history of the transgender internet by Avery Dame-Griff
- Transgender Australia: a history since 1910 by Noah Riseman
- Transgender warriors: making history from Joan of Arc to RuPaul by Leslie Feinberg
- Before we were trans: a new history of gender by Kit Heyam
- Transgender history: the roots of today’s revolution by Susan Stryker
- Black on both sides: a racial history of trans identity by C. Riley Snorton
- Personal score by Ellen van Neerven
- Colouring the rainbow: blak queer and trans perspectives: life stories and essays by First Nations people of Australia edited by Dino Hodge
To find out other ways you can get involved and learn more, check out Deakin Life’s blog post: Show your support for our LGBTIQ+ community this Transgender Awareness Week and at Trans Gender Victoria. There is a livestream vigil being held this afternoon from 5.45pm. Register to receive the link.