international transgender day of visibility

International transgender day of visibility professional#

But it’s not been a major issue for me because the first letter of my name is the same as the first letter of my dead name, and my last name has remained the same – this makes my work easily searchable. I was afraid of losing my history of work and my body of previous research, since I don’t publish anymore under my ‘dead name’ (the name I was given at birth). Your name is important when you’re an academic.

International transgender day of visibility professional#

I raised my anxieties about being open with my trans identity at work and was assured I’d have 100% support.īeing trans is something I deal with every day in my professional life.

I started at UNSW after my transition and my supervisor immediately asked me about my pronouns. What’s your experience been like working at UNSW as an open trans person?Ĭoming to UNSW was a fresh start for me and I’ve had a really great experience here. I have a trans flag on my door and people have emailed me to say how welcome it makes them feel. It’s also important that trans students know there are trans people in leadership roles at the University. For me they highlight that I am here, and this is me. A couple of the hashtags that are important to the concepts of visibility, though political, are #WontBeErased and #HereOnPurpose. It’s important for me to be visible to people who can’t be. We’re talking about a very small community with very high needs. I think visibility itself is important for the transgender and gender diverse community. People often say, “You must be happier now,” and though I am happier, it was a difficult journey, physically, emotionally, financially, legally and socially. It raised a lot of different feelings for me – mostly I felt angry that I waited so long (12 years) to medically transition, due to fear and shame. Last week I celebrated the first anniversary of my medical transition. Why do you think International Transgender Day of Visibility is important for UNSW to acknowledge and what does it symbolise to you? Andy's research specialties are sexual and gender-based violence, queer criminology, immigration regulation, and homophobic and transphobic violence. To celebrate the day, Workplace Diversity learned about Andy Kaladelfos’ experience of being trans, both personally and professionally.Īndy is a Lecturer in Criminology in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a proud trans man. On 31 March, UNSW acknowledged International Transgender Day of Visibility, which is celebrated annually to recognise trans and gender diverse people, their stories and achievements. To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility, Workplace Diversity spoke with UNSW academic Andy Kaladelfos about raising the visibility of the trans community.