Western Washington may be a bubble — but it’s a bubble that grows, said Eve Palay, trans community activist in Kitsap County.
Palay, trans Bainbridge Island resident and boardmember of Rainbow Crew NW, came out in 2016 and has since helped to organize new queer alliances and support groups around Kitsap County.
In less than a decade, the trans community in Kitsap has become more visible and connected, she said, but that’s not what she initially expected. Where once there were only two organizations countywide for queer people — Kitsap Pride and Kitsap Transgender Group — there are now about nine. Palay often runs into parents who excitedly share that their children are trans or nonbinary, which was very rare in the decades before she came out.
“Really the biggest surprise was that people wanted to have an opportunity to support trans people — especially trans kids — to feel welcome,” Palay said. “Even if the kid is just trying out a new gender expression, let ‘em! Better that they find out about that now, rather than decades from now.”
Trans people are also better recognized nationally. Nov. 13-19 is Transgender Awareness Week, and Nov. 20 is Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Locally, TDOR will be celebrated at the BI Museum of Art Nov. 19. This marks the eighth year that the museum has hosted the vigil, sponsored by Rainbow Crew NW, Bainbridge Pride, Transfriending, Queer Elders and the BI-North Kitsap Interfaith Council.
Washington is a sanctuary state for trans youth who are seeking gender-affirming care, but not everyone in the United States is lucky enough to live in a place that lets them be who they are without facing hate or judgment, Palay said.
Transgender Day of Remembrance was first established in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, a writer, archivist and transgender rights activist from the Bay Area who founded one of the first public online forums for transgender people. Smith created TDOR to honor her friend, Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in Boston. Vigils and events held as part of TDOR bring the community together to mourn the losses of transgender people due to hate crimes.
Research from a 2022 Pew Research Center study shows there are approximately 5.5 million transgender and nonbinary adults in the United States, and that about 5% of adults younger than 30 are trans or nonbinary. Additionally, 44% of adults know a trans person and 20% know someone who is nonbinary.
At its meeting Nov. 12, the Bainbridge Island City Council became the first city in Kitsap County to officially recognize international Transgender events.
“The legal rights of trans and nonbinary people are under attack, as these communities face discrimination and persistent efforts to undermine their humanity,” BI mayor Joe Deets wrote. “[This] is a time for trans people and importantly, their allies, to take action to bring attention to the trans community by educating the public, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around issues of prejudice, discrimination and violence that affect the community.”
BI deputy mayor Ashley Mathews will bring the proclamation to the BIMA event — “because it’s important that the city means what it says,” Palay said.
”We’re all in transition — getting older, falling in love, falling out of love, moving to a new place. If that transition is gender-related, it’s really visible,” Palay said. “Ours is just a side of what transition looks like.”
