Denver-Based Startup Visible Introduces Transgender Day of Visibility Campaign
Thursday was International Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual event dedicated to celebrating trans people and their contributions, along with raising awareness for the discrimination they face worldwide. Denver-based, all-digital wireless carrier Visible is joining in on the annual event, partnering with influential voices within the trans community for virtual conversations about what the day means to them and their personal journeys as visible trans people in 2022.
Visible is known for its social marketing initiatives. The #ProudlyVisible Pride campaign featured Nico Tortorella, Tegan & Sara, Alok Menon, Christian Siriano, and more, and its #VisibleActsofKindness campaign from early in the pandemic encouraged conversations and acts related to kindness.
The campaign features conversations with actress Tommy Dorfman, interviewed by activist Matt Bernstein; Emira D’Spain, the first Black transgender model for Victoria’s Secret; and NCAA swimmer Schuyler Bailar, interviewed by actor and ally Justin Baldoni.
In their conversation, Bernstein references that Dorfman is someone who has experience being in the public eye, initially out as queer and perceived as a cis gay man until she transitioned last year. Bernstein asks what that was like in the moment and what it looks like now.
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“I felt so trapped in these versions of self that I needed to wear as armor to survive in a lot of ways but ultimately had run their course, and I think had run their course for quite some time,” Dorfman says. “But to be visible can be really liberating, and it can also be a bit of a prison if you if you aren’t thoughtful about the space that you’re taking.”
In his conversation with D’Spain, Baldoni references that, as an influencer with a large audience, she has a unique chance to show through action the distinction between compassion and comprehension, in regard to transgender identity. D’Spain replies, saying that she wanted to have an online platform to make herself visible, not because of beauty or her transness: “It was just about confidence.”
She says that beauty makes her feel confident, sure, but she also uses beauty to make herself visible in order to make herself understood.
“Especially for trans women, I feel like beauty is something that a lot of us fall into, unintentionally, because you learn to make yourself more understandable,” D’Spain says.”You learn to do your contour a certain way, to do your hair a certain way, to wear the ‘right’ clothes, to make people understand you. But if there was no concept of understanding what a trans woman was, would as many trans women that are in beauty be in beauty today? Hmm.”
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Along with the campaign, Visible is making a donation to the It Gets Better Project to support their mission of uplifting, empowering, and connecting LGBTQ youth around the world.
Lindsey Cohen, head of communications and media relations for Visible, says, “This campaign is an extension of how we’ve showed up for the LGBTQ community over the years, and it’s important to us to provide a space and the resources for these conversations to take place, and amplify them through our channels.”
Screenshots courtesy of Visible on Instagram
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