Vancouver Trans March
(Content source: Facebook Event Page)
AUG 2, 2024, Clark Park, 5:30pm March to Victoria Park.
Insta: @VancouverTransMarch
E-mail: liberationcelebrationmarch@gmail.com
“The time has come, once again, for us to celebrate / our joy, our sorrow, our safety together; for all the Earth creates” - “A Poem for the March”, Unknown
VANCOUVER TRANS MARCH 2024
As the droning of anti-queer sentiments have quickly become antiquated jeers clogging up our digital feeds, let's show Commercial Drive how glad we are that, together, we can keep our community and neighbourhood safe as we make some noise and delight in each other's company. After all, a world without Trans, Two Spirit, Genderqueer, and Intersex people has never existed, and the future of gender looks inviting!
5:30pm – Opening and Speakers at Clark Park
6:15pm – March departs from Clark Park
7:00pm – Gathering at Victoria Park, see details below
Masking + Event Agreements (2024)
Respecting others’ bodily autonomy—including the desire not to be exposed to virus/illness—is a basic agreement we expect everyone at Vancouver Trans March to honor. We recognize there will always be some risk to gathering, and we aim to reduce potential harm as much as possible with the following agreements that we expect all attendees to honor:
Vancouver Trans March will have masked zones in effect (KN95/N95+ or equivalent). This means that we ask all attendees—including tablers, sponsors, volunteers, and organizers—to consistently stay masked when not hydrating in these areas. (Air purifiers will be available on stage for performers)
Mask-off zones will be designated along the perimeter of the gathering spaces for extended activities like eating and getting a breath of fresh air at a socially distanced space.
We will have masks available for those with limited access to KN95/N95 masks, and volunteers will be making the rounds to remind people of this policy and hand out masks.
(Please note: Smoking & Vaping on outside of the park only)
We ask all hopeful attendees to stay home if they test positive or are experiencing symptoms of illness before the event. We will have a limited supply of rapid tests available for attendees with limited access to them. We also recognize the limitations of rapid testing, and encourage every effort to stop the spread.
ACCESSIBILITY
Free Snacks and Water!
Limited sun protection provided
- Hat
- Umbrella
- Sunscreen
- Sunscreen
- Sunscreen
- Long sleeve shirt
- Refillable water bottle
- Tent
Accessible Seating at stages
ASL Interpretation
Vaccines and Harm Reduction Supplies
Wheelchair Accessibility
- Clark Park
- NE Entrance - 11-14°incline
- SE Entrance - 5° decline, parking available
- March on Commercial Drive
- Uneven sidewalks with sandwich boards
- Uphill until 1st and Commercial Dr.
- Victoria Park
- Flat area
- Gravel paths and grassy field
Washroom Accessibility
-J.J. Bean, 2206 Commercial Dr - tight for scooter, powered front door
- Grounds for Coffee, 2088 Commercial Dr - heavy manual front door, 32" wide washroom door
Sensory Reduced Tents
Medic Team
We ask all participants to use scent-free or reduced-scent products for the event.
(No perfume, cologne, scented deodorant, etc)
Who we are…
We are beautiful, brilliant, creative, strong and resilient with diverse gender definitions and expressions. Our bodies are beautiful in all forms!
Organized by a gender-diverse grass roots collective of volunteers, the 2024 Trans, Two-Spirit, Genderqueer, Intersex March is an opportunity for us to celebrate, proudly express our pride and make our voices heard on the issues that affect our lives including violence, bullying, erasure from social histories, harassment and discrimination by public institutions.
We operate in a spirit of inclusion with two-spirit people who may or may not also claim identities such as trans and genderqueer and stand in solidarity with BLM Vancouver, Queer and Trans People of Colour and others that feel unwelcome at mainstream pride events.
Land Acknowledgement 2024
The march and festivities are being held on the stolen and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples
When the colonial project set its sights on extracting and stealing resources from these lands we know colonially as "East Van" near the end of the 18th century, an estimated 40,000 Indigenous people died from viral transmissions brought on by three separate epidemics spread by European colonizers over the course of 20 years. (The Tsleil-Waututh people were reduced to 41 individuals from a pre-colonial high of 10,000)
Capitalizing on this viral genocide and diminishing of population, the colonial state claimed more and more access to these lands, restricting stewardship from Indigenous peoples, and commodifying the resources with the threat of state violence by the North-West Mounted Police (a paramilitary group created by John A. MacDonald that would later become the Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
By the 19th century, many local Indigenous communities turned to colonial wage labor as their people suffered from the brutality of government expansion and colonial greed, while being bordered and policed on smaller and smaller lands.
While the Trans March has historically taken place along what is colonially named "Commercial Drive", we do not forget its colonial origin as a logging road to haul lumber razed from the forests of people under threat of state violence and ostracization from colonial resources.
To this day, Commercial Drive is over policed, access to the land is restricted, and commodification of the community continues to line the pockets of the wealthiest colonizers in the city. We know that these lands will flourish once again under the guidance of Indigenous Leadership, and that we will only secure a future of a habitable planet by relinquishing these lands to the original stewards while dismantling the colonial system.
So, with that in mind, let us gather on these lands in the spirit of unity and pride as we keep us safe from those who want us invisible!
