Day Of Transgender Visibility Proclaimed By Fairfax City Council

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — During its regular meeting on Tuesday evening, the Fairfax City Council proclaimed Sunday, March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility in the city.

Mayor Catherine Read presented the proclamation to Rev. Emma Chattin of the Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia, who accepted the honor on behalf of the city's transgender community. She is also the executive director of Transgender Education Association.

"I want to thank the mayor and the city council for making Fairfax City, a friendly city, friendly to all people," Chattin said, after she accepted the proclamation. "In the states and the municipalities that have passed legislation becoming less friendly to trans and gender non-binary individuals, hate crimes in schools, among our most vulnerable, have quadrupled.

"Fear, prejudice and hateful rhetoric has its consequences. Just as good leadership matters. Leadership that speaks to all and this is not a matter of politics. It is a matter of justice. That's why this proclamation of visibility is so important.

Related: Transgender Visibility Day Proclamation Passed By 9 Of 10 Supervisors

"I promise you this, creation is not binary. Yes, in the beginning, we have day and we have night. What about their companions, dusk and dawn? So many wonderful, beautiful qualities of light that are neither day nor night. Yes, in the beginning, we have land and we have sea, but what about a beach? What about of beach, the beautiful magical place that is similar to both and unlike either? Creation is not binary. The universe is filled with possibilities, miracles that are made visible, just like us."

On March 19, Chattin accepted a similar proclamation from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which also declared March 31 as Transgender Visibility Day in the county.