The International Transgender Day of Visibility, recognized globally for more than a decade, is, for many trans Americans, taking on a new weight this year as President Trump and his administration seek to deny their existence.

Orders signed by Trump since his return to office in January aim to bar transgender troops from serving openly in the military, end federal support for gender-affirming care for minors, ban trans girls from school sports, and prohibit federal prisons from housing trans women in female facilities. None of the orders use the word transgender.

An order Trump signed hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20 declares the government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, which federal agencies have used to justify cutting funds for LGBTQ services and removing references to trans people from government websites, including web pages for the Stonewall National Monument in New York.

“To a lot of people, [Trans Day of Visibility] means hope,” said Rachel Crandall-Crocker, the Michigan-based psychotherapist and transgender rights activist credited with founding the day in 2009. “It means we will resist, and we’re not going back into the closet — it’s a unified, strong voice saying, ‘We are here. We are here, and we’re not leaving.’”

When Crandall-Crocker started Trans Day of Visibility 16 years ago, she had no intention of founding a worldwide movement; she just wanted to help transgender people connect. At the time, the only day dedicated to the community was Trans Day of Remembrance, which honors lives lost to anti-trans violence.

In an interview, Crandall-Crocker said she created Trans Day of Visibility, sometimes referred to by the acronym TDOV, with her wife, Susan Crocker, to focus on the living.

“First, it was slow,” she said, “and then it began to snowball, and snowball and snowball until it turned into the international movement it is right now.”

Celebrations are slated across the globe this year, including marches and educational events in major U.S. cities. More than a dozen lawmakers........

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