Trans Day of Visibility
In honour of International Trans Day of Visibility (March 31st), Queer Co has decided to highlight five trans artists and activists you should be following to better educate and inform yourself + become a better ally!
Being a good ally entails more than just acceptance, as cis folk we must keep each other accountable for our behavior, speak up against all forms of discrimination towards trans folk and be perceptive towards more covert forms of transphobia (which can be just as harmful towards the trans community).
ALOK (@alokvmenon)
Alok Vaid- Menon (they/them) who performs under the moniker ALOK is an internationally acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker. They have worked in mixed-media, using poetry, comedy, fashion-design, performance, sound-art (…) to explore themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging, and the human condition.
Alongside their mixed-media work, they also engage in many forms of activism both online and offline, advocating for bodily diversity, gender neutrality, and queer and trans rights. Their publications include Femme in Public (2017), Beyond the Gender Binary (2020) and many articles on their blog which are available to read on alokvmenon.com.
photo from: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/alok-vaid-menon-book-guide-to-fighting-transphobia
Thorn Vineyard (@thorn.vineyard)
Thorn Vineyard (they/them) is a Dutch actor, activist and drag king who is currently playing the character of Lesley in youth tv show SpangaS. Besides acting, they host the podcast Couplegoals alongside their partner Mandy Woelkens (she/her) in which they talk to different couples, discussing their experiences and struggles.
They have performed as a drag king and held workshops throughout the Netherlands and are currently part of the Netherland’s first ball house, The House of Vineyard. They have recently announced their collaboration and role in the upcoming feature film Anne+ which will be available to watch on Netflix after September 2021.
photo from: https://www.vogue.nl/cultuur/cultuur-nieuws/g33443963/queer-activisten-lgbtq-lhbtq-instagram/
ANOHNI (@anohni)
Anohni (she/her), styled as ANOHNI, is a singer, composer, and visual artist. Previously performing as the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons, she announced the release of solo album Hopelessness in 2015. ANOHNI works with experimental avant-garde sounds and melodies, exploring themes of gender, queerness, ecocide, feminism (…).
She has worked alongside Bjork, Lou Reed, Marina Abramovic, David Lynch and many more artists and personalities within counter-culture movements. The video for her newest song Drone Bomb Me starring Naomi Campbell can be watched on anohni.com.
Tourmaline (@tourmaliiine)
Tourmaline (she/her) is an activist, filmmaker and writer who has worked in transgender activism, economic justice, prison abolition (…). Serving as the Director of Membership at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (a legal aid organization which aims to serve and protect low-income, trans people of colour.
In 2020, the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) acquired her film Salacia (2019), which documents the life of a black trans woman living in New York in the 1800s, for its permanent collection.
photo from: https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2019/2/12/tourmaline-isnt-just-telling-our-stories-shes-putting-us-museum
Aaron Philip (@aaron__philip)
Aaron Rose Philip (she/they) is a model and activist who has become the first black, transgender model with a physical disability to be represented by a major modelling agency. At age 14 in 2016, she published a memoir titled This Kid Can Fly: It’s About Ability (Not Disability) about her experiences growing up with cerebral palsy.
She was first noticed through social media and included in editorial features in i-D, DAZED, ELLE, Allure, Paper, and W magazines. She later went on to model for Collina Strada, Marc Jacobs, and Moschino. She also starred in Miley Cyrus’ music video for the song “Mother’s Daughter”.
photo from: https://www.glamour.com/story/model-aaron-philip-interview