DIVA sat down with the creator of this inaugural celebration of trans+ stories and trailblazers
BY ELLA GAUCI, IMAGE PROVIDED
The first Trans+ History Week is in full swing and is encouraging people around the world to connect with trans, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex trailblazers from the past. This launchpad QueerAF project aims to not only bust myths about the trans+ community but also provide the trans+ community with access to educational resources about trans+ pioneers from the past.
Marty Davies, the joint CEO of Outvertising, founded Trans+ History Week with the hopes of learning more about their own history. DIVA spoke to Marty about what they hope this new week will bring to the trans+ community.
What prompted you to start Trans+ History Week?
About a year ago, I had learnt that the 90th anniversary of the Nazi raid on a trans clinic was coming up. I pitched an article to QueerAF about that moment, and about how I didn’t know about it previously. It was really powerful to realise that there was a trans clinic 90 years ago. I thought that if I didn’t know it, there would be a lot of other people who didn’t know it as well. It gave me this important knowledge that we have always been here.
I wrote that article, and a few weeks later QueerAF told me that the article had been used a lot on Twitter. It was being used to shut down the idea that we are a “trend”. Education was being used as a tool to shut down that lie. The idea of how powerful writing about our history was stuck with me.
The idea for the week came from asking how do we create space for these stories? And how do we make space to listen to them?
Doing an awareness day or an awareness week is the language of our community. It really has taken shape in such a short amount of time. It’s become much bigger than me, and that’s a beautiful part of the development of it. Now it’s everybody’s.
Why do you think education is such a useful tool to combat misinformation?
In an age of misinformation, and that being a currency, what else can you combat it with but reality and education? Celebrating that can shut down really harmful lies. We’ve been denied our history. We’ve been taught half a history.
I was at school during the whole of section 28. I didn’t get taught about LGBTQIA history at school. We’ve got generations of people that don’t know this part of our history. It’s really dehumanising to be denied to learn about our history.
One thing that was so interesting about the whole process was that it began as an idea to shut down a lie. I quickly realised that that isn’t the main reason this week should exist. For the volunteers and myself, we got this great sense of well-being when we realised that we’ve been here for millennias. To be surrounded with knowledge of our past… it’s a really great way to feel a sense of wellness. To know that you’ve always been here reminds you that you belong here in 2024 as well.
Is there a figure you’ve learnt about while researching this week who has impacted you?
Marsha P. Johnson is such an iconic figure. She’s this revered, mythological figure. She was an incredible person. You don’t need to put extra mythology around her.
I’m also a writer and I was fascinated to learn that the very first writer in human history wrote about trans people. The earliest pieces of writing are hymns written to the priestess Enheduanna about her power to change a man into a woman or a woman into a man.
Could you tell us a bit about the educational workbook?
We created a workbook which has four lessons in it which are told through four stories, with a focus on historical stories. We created that workbook to give the world a gift of education. We want to make it so that we’re finding learnings from it that we can apply to our present. We want to inspire people to make space for history.
What do you hope people take from this first Trans+ History Week?
This week is first and foremost for trans people. It’s by trans people for trans people. It’s all very trans! That’s really magical. A lot of time, trans people’s value is their educational value to cis people. I love the idea that this is for trans people and their well-being. It shuts down that lie that we are somehow “new”.
You can find out more about Trans+ History Week here: wearequeeraf.com/transhistoryweek/
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I would just like to say thank you to Marty and the team, I know Marty from years ago and it’s nice to see they are doing well and doing something amazing, when they knew me I was male but always knew I wanted to transition and started doing so a year ago, this agenda against the trans community has been very damaging but it’s great to see more and more positive action being taken and information being made available.
Well done everyone. Thank you for what you’ve done.