About

Gender Euphoria is an annual festival that celebrates the lives of trans, genderqueer, and gender-variant people. We started Gender Euphoria as a counterpoint to the Trans Day of Remembrance. While it's important to remember all the bad things that can happen to those of us who live several standard deviations from the cookie-cutter norm, it's also important to exercise our ability to have fun.

 Trans Day of Remembrance: solemn reflection and activism.

Gender Euphoria: work it!

History

Gender Euphoria, originally called "Happy Tranny Day" debuted in 2008, as the brainchild of a local transman. He'd noticed that often conversations in trans communities, and activities that bring us together, are about the challenges we face in the world.    Also, he saw that different parts of trans communities aren't often in contact with one another.  
 
He wanted there to be a place for us all to come together to play & have fun & celebrate who we are!  He saw that there's loads of great stuff about being trans - we're strong, courageous and creative people, and we can offer a heck of a lot to one another & to the world. So, a group of us came together & put "Happy Tranny Day" it was full of warmth and fantastic energy, sometimes mellow and chillaxed, and sometimes high-wattage.  And ya know what?  Last year, we pulled it off in roughly 6 weeks!  Sure, that involved preparing silk-screens at one in the morning the day of the event, but hey - it was fun! 
 
We thought our first year was the cat's pyjamas, but we wanted to know what you thought about the event, too.  So as part of 2009's planning, we put out a survey. Thanks for letting us know what you wanted to see at Gender Euphoria 2009 -- the responses made a big difference. They informed everything from new activities through the change of name. (We trans folk sure know all about name changes!)

2009's show was once again a rousing success! We did a few things differently, including the hot cooked, catered meal, which received rave reviews. Not much was left to donate to our favourite homeless shelters. We shifted around the show, added some activities and changed the way the day flowed, just a little. And you all came and enjoyed yourselves. Nothing makes us feel better than to see people having fun at our event . It all made us realise that we've created somehting that will last and that people are willing to come back to. You all made that happen.

Status

Gender Euphoria Day is a committee of British Columbia's Trans Alliance Society, a BC organization aimed at educating the public about Trans people and advocating for Trans rights. Anyone can be a member, so sign up today!

Photo credit: randysonofrobert