Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death, and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.

This day celebrates the diverse manifestations of life, love, and support that exist between transgender parents and their children and transgender children and their parents

October 26, 1996 marks the anniversary of the first public demonstration by intersex people in the United States. Members of the now defunct Intersex Society of North America and their allies arrived in Boston, MA at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics. They demonstrated and shared their pain in a very public way, denouncing non-consensual infant genital surgeries and demanding the medical industry take notice. Doctors dismissed the activists as a vocal minority in a 1997 New York Times article covering the intersex action. The tides are slowly changing.

TODAY, intersex people and our allies are following in their footsteps, organizing in cities around the U.S., and around the world.

In 2018, LGBT advocacy group Voices 4, intersex supermodel Hanne Gaby Odiele, Intersex Justice Project, and interACT teamed up in New York City to protest Dr. Dix Poppas, a leader in performing clitoral surgeries on minors, who came under fire for using vibrators on young intersex children to test his surgical results. Poppas faced no discipline and still practices at Cornell. In August 2018, he quoted that he “should have videotaped” the tests. Intersex Justice Project led their third action at Lurie Children’s in Chicago, calling for the institution to #EndIntersexSurgery. In 2020, the institution finally issued an apology.

In 2022, the Department of State expressed that governments are responsible for protecting the human rights of intersex individuals, and pledged solidarity with intersex advocates and activists.

#SpiritDay is the world’s most visible anti-bullying movement inspiring LGBTQ youth, especially transgender and nonbinary youth to live their lives in their truth and authenticity. This year, on Thursday, October 19th, GLAAD will organize thousands of celebrities, influential voices, news & media outlets, tv & film studios, brands & corporations, landmarks, sports leagues, tech leaders, influencers, faith groups and so many more to go purple and support LGBTQ youth by creating clear possibility models for them to thrive and be represented in the world.

While GLAAD research shows that LGBTQ acceptance is at an all-time high, so too is anti-LGBTQ discrimination and bullying. As online hate continues to foment real-world harm, coupled with the anti-LGBTQ climate of our day — from book bans to bans on drag, bans on LGBTQ history and bans on healthcare — America’s youth is particularly at-risk and has never needed our support more than right now. #SpiritDay gives LGBTQ youth, their parents and allies an opportunity to see what’s possible when we lead with acceptance.

International Pronouns Day began in 2018 and takes place on the 3rd Wednesday of October each year. Individuals and groups participate in grassroots activities that they determine at the local level. The campaign has no central body, although this is the only official website. Grassroots social justice advocates are empowered to generate their own resources/adaptations. Local organizers should seek to center the voices, needs, and interests of trans/nonbinary people/leaders, particularly those who face multiple marginalizations, in their planning efforts. Advocates are encouraged to consider the many possible layers of work from media to education to community resourcing to policies and practices that promote belonging and justice.

Be proud of who you are and your support for LGBTQ+ equality this National Coming Out Day!

Sharing our authentic selves with others is not always safe or easy, and it is not a one-day event — but when possible, it can be an extraordinarily powerful key to breaking down the barriers we face as LGBTQ+ people.

Our community continues to stay resilient despite living in a State of Emergency. We are still coming together, celebrating ourselves and advocating for our rights. It is more important than ever that we join together to send a clear message against the over 580 bills: We are not going anywhere.

Gay Uncles Day is celebrated on the second Sunday in August and takes place on August 11 this year. It is a day to celebrate and increase the visibility of the gay population to encourage more people to come out. With the long history of discrimination against the L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ community in the country, Gay Uncles Day is an important celebration of the confirmed bachelors in our families. It is also a way for gay people to receive important validation from their families, which they may have been denied since they came out. It is also a day to celebrate the continued presence of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ relatives among families, despite social and familial pressures.

Liberation Day on the U.S. territory of Guam is an annual commemoration of the invasion by U.S. military forces on July 21, 1944, which ended the Japanese occupation that had begun in 1941. Begun in 1945, it is Guam's largest celebration. Festivities include a queen contest, summer carnival, fireworks display, and mile-long parade on Marine Corps Drive in Hagåtña from Adelup to Paseo de Susana, as well as solemn memorials and visits to massacre sites. It is organized by the Guam Island Fair Committee.

International Drag Day is a day to celebrate the diverse, vibrant, creative and empowering art of drag.

The International Drag Day was founded by Adam Stewart in 2009 through his fan page for Drag queens on Facebook, with a main objective to provide Drag artists with the space to expose their creativity and culture in a proper way.

The purpose of International Drag Day is to celebrate drag culture and its progress in becoming a mainstream form of entertainment. It is also a day to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and its contributions to drag culture throughout history. The day encourages people to dress up as their favourite drag queen or king and throw parties, watch drag shows, and post pictures of themselves in drag to social media.

Omnisexual Visibility Day is an annual observance celebrated on 6 July. The day was created to recognise and celebrate people who identify as omnisexual. It is an opportunity to learn and share information about the diversity of gender identities, sexual orientations, and expressions.

The Stonewall Riots Anniversary is an annual event that celebrates the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, New York City. The Stonewall Riots were a series of violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community that took place from June 28th to July 3rd of 1969. The riots were spurred by a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. During the raid, police officers physically and verbally abused patrons of the bar, leading to a violent revolt that is widely recognized as the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement.

The Stonewall Riots Anniversary is an important reminder of the struggles and injustices that members of the LGBT community have faced throughout history and of the progress that has been made in the fight for equal rights and recognition. Each year, the anniversary serves as an opportunity to celebrate the progress that has been made and to continue working towards the furtherance of LGBT rights.

On June 12, 2016 at 2:02 a.m., our community was forever impacted after 49 angels were taken and dozens of others were injured in a mass shooting during Latin Night at Pulse, a safe and inclusive LGBTQIA+ nightclub, located just south of downtown Orlando. At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Since that tragic day, we have focused on supporting the victims and their families, as well as healing and uniting our community with love and compassion.

June 5 is HIV Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day (HLTSADExit Disclaimer). First observed in 2014, it’s a day to honor long-term survivors of HIV and raise awareness about their needs, issues, and journeys.

The selection of June 5 for this annual observance coincides with the anniversary of the first official reporting of what became known as the AIDS epidemic on June 5, 1981. When the CDC first reported on five cases of a mysterious disease affecting young gay men. June 5, 1981 is considered the start of the AIDS pandemic.

Today, HIV Long-Term Survivors (HLTS) represent a diverse group of people diagnosed with HIV before the advent of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy or HAART in 1996. They make up about 25% of all people living with HIV and AIDS. 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the U.S. That makes about 300,000 long-term survivors, defined as individuals who acquired HIV before 1996 and the introduction of HAART.

HLTS includes people born with HIV or who acquired the virus as babies and are now in their 30s and 40s. HLTS are also those living with HIV and AIDS for over 25 years.

Pansexual Awareness & Visibility Day is celebrated each year on May 24th to increase the visibility of pansexual identities within the LGBTQ+ community, and to combat stigma and prejudice towards pansexual and panromantic people. This is important to achieve diversity and inclusivity throughout workplaces, service delivery and to improve the health and wellbeing of pansexual communities.

Harvey Milk Day is a day to educate your school about an extraordinary leader whose courageous work to end discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community in the 1970s set the stage for many of the civil rights advances we see today.

Harvey Milk was an activist, organizer, and the first openly gay man elected to public office in the country as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in the late 1970s. Harvey Milk came out and started organizing against discrimination of gay and lesbian business owners in the Castro District of San Francisco, and against the Briggs Initiative (this was an initiative on the California state ballot in 1978 that would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California schools). Milk was responsible for passing gay rights ordinances for the city of San Francisco and served eleven months in office before he was assassinated on November 27, 1978, along with San Francisco Mayor George Moscone. We celebrate Harvey Milk Day on his birthday, May 22.

To be agender means to not identify as any particular gender. Agender is also called genderblank , genderfree, genderless, gendervoid, non-gendered, ungendered, or null gender. The agender identity falls under the nonbinary umbrella and (sometimes) the transgender umbrella.

The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) is observed on May 17 and aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work worldwide.