Transgender Day of Visibility celebrated in Valley

Trans Community Project held its third annual event celebrating International Transgender Day of Visibility at the Annenberg center at Eisenhower medical center.

“The more visibility we get, the more that everyone else out there in America, in the world, can see we’re just human we’re just like everybody else,” Riley Ford said.

Ford said he is transgender and married with four children.

He said it’s important to recognize the strides that have been made in the community

“I try to make sure that other people are aware that you can have anything you want in life. You just have to have the courage to step up and put your face out there,” Ford said.

April Rose transitioned less than six months ago.
She said it wasn’t easy coming out to her family.

“I used to live with my family, that was a very toxic environment. I wasn’t able to be myself but since I’ve been out I’ve been much happier,” Rose said.

Rose and Ford came to Rancho Mirage in support of the Day of Visibility event.

One speaker reminded the community about how they are better recognized now than before.

“In the past year, we’ve seen a lot of television shows portray us in a positive light. We’ve seen a lot of trangender youth speaking out publicly on trans issues which makes a lot of us who are older, happy,” said Trans Community Project Executive Director Paulina Angel.

Ford said despite progress, the community still has to fight for equality and the only way to get it, is to stay visible.

“We just want everyone to know that we’re not weirdos we’re not freaks we’re just people and we just want the same basic human rights as everybody else,” Ford said.

International Transgender Day of Visibility is celebrated on March 31st, since 2009.