The steps of State Library of Victoria were coloured with Pride flags in celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV) on March 31.

Psychotherapist Rachel Crandall Crocker said she founded International TDoV in 2009 to honour the living. 

Crocker, who is also co-founder of Transgender Michigan, said that as important as days of remembrance and funerals are, she wanted a day to bring the community together in the spirit of hope and celebration. 

To join in the celebration, South East Monash Legal Service hosted a Trans Day of Visibility event in the City of Greater Dandenong Civic Centre on April 2. 

The event featured multiple organisations offering free services for transgender and gender diverse people, including legal help from Justice Q, job readiness services from Fitted for Work, and health and wellbeing services from Headspace and Thorne Harbour Health.

Intake team leader at Headspace, Mark Dollin, said events like this are important to show the availability of confidential health services with clinicians who are “well-educated, inclusive, safe and willing to learn”.

“Even if your family are not supportive, there’s still a way forward. There are services like ours, and many others here today that can help a young person find a way forward.”

Headspace can also help explore gender-affirming services, including sexual health and gender transition support.

In a 2024 report, Headspace concluded that gender-affirming care was the “best available approach” to improve the mental health and quality of life of transgender and nonbinary young people. 

A 2024 survey by The Trevor Project also supports this. It found that gender diverse youth under 24 years of age with access to gender-affirming spaces, clothing and gender-neutral bathrooms at school had lower rates of attempting suicide compared to those without.

The Trevor Project also reported that having access to an older LGBTQIA+ adult role model is associated with increased levels of self-reported life purpose amongst LGBTQIA+ young people.

Victorian Pride Centre board member Anastasia Le said public visibility of intersectional diversity in leadership is crucial because with it comes intersectional experiences.

The state of the world would be different “had we conceded those kinds of voices into leadership development, selection [and] decision making”, Le says.

Le said of her own experience: “I wish I had seen transwomen thriving, and not transwomen being beaten up and neglected. Had I seen such positive representation, I think my journey to life could have been a bit smoother.”   

Le’s message to young transgender people is clear: 

“Know that there are women like me before you … men like me before you, still fighting for you ... [and] trust your own vision for the future.”

She looks forward to when human rights aren’t being negotiated, and when our shared diversity and struggles are a “point of commune for unity [and] for peace” on a global scale.