Here's how P.E.I. is marking Transgender Awareness Week

This book includes works from dozens of members of PEI's trans community. It's the third anthology the island's trans community has created, and it's the biggest one yet. In the first year, we had 14 people, which we thought was amazing. We were celebrating, like, wow, there's 14 people in the book. And then the second year, we had 23 people in the book, and this year we have 42. And so each year it almost doubles in size, it shows the visibility of our community. The book is called In These Times. It includes written and visual works, including poems like this. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. How dare you have the nerve to continue to spread hate and misinformation. That's part of Riley Jean Carson's poem titled, Ann Would Say to Trump. Carson says writing for the anthology gave her an opportunity to explore her creativity and show a different side of herself. I always enjoy reading other people's work and kind of getting an understanding of their perspectives. A lot of it is very personal and emotional based, so I kind of like to relate to and absorb that. Bull says it takes courage to put yourself out there and make yourself seen. People in the community are super proud. How do they feel? They feel like they deserve to take up space and to share who they are. And then for the wider community, it becomes a piece of education and a piece of allyship and being able to understand the humanity that exists for all of us, regardless of what our backgrounds are. The executive director of the PEI Transgender Network says books like this one are especially important for young people who are exploring their gender identity. I never had access to something like this when I was younger. And so, For them to see, oh, there are trans people in our community that are creative, that are living, that are thriving, that are experiencing life just like I am, I think it's incredible. The anthology is part of a bigger project funded by the province called Together We Thrive. It included a mentorship program to help members of the trans community create events for Trans Awareness Week. Those events will take place in the lead up to Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th. Gwyneth Egan, CBC News, Charlottetown.