Trans Day of Visibility 2025

On the 31st of March, Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) is observed internationally. Since its creation in 2009 by trans activist Rachel Crandall Crocker, TDOV has been a day dedicated to celebrating the lives, joys, and accomplishments of trans people, but it has also been a day to fight for trans rights. More than 15 years after its inception, in an increasingly hostile socio-political climate, it is crucial to celebrate trans people and to continue to fight for trans rights and freedom.

Often, people’s first/only interaction with a trans person is through media. Media is an incredibly powerful tool of understanding and inclusion that has been violently misused in many regards to propagate discriminatory ideas on minorities including trans people. To participate in the effort to counter this, Duke Libraries is highlighting relevant material and collections available here at Duke:

Leslie Feinberg Papers

The papers of transgender activist Leslie Feinberg (1949-2014) joined the papers of Feinberg’s spouse Minnie Bruce Pratt (1946-2023) in the Sallie Bingham Center.

In Feinberg’s words, the collection “chronicle[s] the emerging of a new trans movement which declares its grievances with its own voice, and which overlaps with the struggles of women as a whole, and lesbian, bisexual, and trans women in particular.”

The collection includes Feinberg’s original writings and photography, correspondence and gifts from international readers, and much more. Beyond trans lives in joy and struggle, these papers document a commitment to workers and labor union organizing, communist and Marxist principles, journalism for Workers World, prison abolition, disability justice, and liberation for Palestine and all oppressed people. The collection is currently closed pending processing.

One of Leslie Feinberg’s legacies was opening the influential novel Stone Butch Blues (1993) to the public domain. You can check out a print copy from Duke Libraries, or access a PDF through www.lesliefeinberg.net/.

Blurb and information provided by Kelly Wooten, the Research Services and Collection Development Librarian for the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture in the Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Highlights of Our Archival Collections

Mariette Pathy Allen photographs and papers, 1968-2022

The photographs document aspects of human sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression in the U.S with a particular focus on transgender and gender-nonconforming people in their everyday lives.

Transgender Oral History Project zine distro project papers 1992-2013 and undated

The collection comprises 35 trans-inclusive zines gathered and distributed by the Transgender Oral History Project beginning in 2012, along with an informational folder for the project. […] Topics include the politics of patriarchy, sexuality, being queer; gender issues; developmental issues for adolescents and youths identifying as queer or trans; transitioning; instruction for children and allies, including use of pronouns; and the history of the Transgender Oral History Project.

Transgender patient project zine box set

“The main goal for this project will always be to support and provide community for fellow transgender cancer patients. We also seek to create and collaborate on community led sources of education and activism in order to de-stigmatize patient experiences and de-gender healthcare at large.”–The Transgender Patient Project zine box set introductory booklet, page [2].

Highlights from the Perkins & Bostock Libraries

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar (2020)

Freedom House: poems by KB Brookins  (2023)

Fierce femmes and notorious liars: a dangerous trans girl’s confabulous memoir by Kai Cheng Thom (2017)

Little blue encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante (2019)

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020)

Consider the Rooster by Oliver Baez Bendorf (2024)

Nevada by Imogen Binnie (2013)

When Monsters Speak: a Susan Stryker reader by Susan Stryker (2024)

Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero (2023)

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock (2014)

Other Materials and Resources

To celebrate TDOV, the Duke University Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSGD) is throwing a community event on the 31st of March, click on this link to learn more and register to attend!

The CSGD is currently offering microgrants for transition-related care, find out more here!

Additionally, check out the CSGD’s lending library of LGBTQ+ books and movies, and their map to gender-inclusive bathroom on campus!

To read more about trans studies, have a look at Transgender Studies Quarterly (2014-present)!

The issues are available through the Duke University Press website.

Some other trans archival material can be found on www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net, an online archive with scans/pictures of a myriad of trans-related documents!

Finally, as TDOV celebrates trans lives and accomplishments, www.mappingtransjoy.org, an online world map of moments of trans joy, must be mentioned!