Hy Local Guides,
Tomorrow, the 13th to 19th is viewed as Transgender Awareness Week 
. This day is to promote awareness and promote acceptance and understanding and support for Transgenders and other gender-nonconforming individuals. At the end of this awareness week, Nov 20th is marked as Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Before I start to explain, I am a non-binary/pansexual person. I want this post to be as simple and easy to understand so I am not going to the whole LGBTQIA+ spectrum.
L - Lesbian
G - Gay
B - Bisexual
T - Transgender
Q - Queer/questioning
I - Intersex
A - Asexual
Understanding Transgender, Gender identity and Gender neutral.
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Transgender refers to individuals or individuals within a spectrum whose gender identity, expression and behaviour differs from the sex when they were assigned at birth.
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Gender identity is a person’s internal sense of being male or female or both or neither or anywhere in between the spectrum.
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Gender expression is how one presents one’s gender to others through behaviour, appearance, and other aspects.
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Gender neutrality is a concept, policy, or environment that avoids distinguishing between genders, which in turn promotes equality and inclusivity.
Key Aspects of Transgender
- Male To Female (MTF) - Assigned male at birth, identifying as female.
- Female To Male (FTM) - Assigned female at birth, identifying as male.
- Non-binary - identifying as neither exclusively male nor female.
- Genderqueer - identifying as male or female or somewhere along the spectrum.
- Gender-Fluid - experiencing different gender identities over time.
- Cisgender - identifying with the sex assigned at birth.
Aim of this week
- To raise awareness and promote acceptance and equality for transgenders.
- Promote higher education and jobs for Transgenders.
- Support Transgenders in the medical field.
- To stop stigma and bullying towards Transgenders.
- Advocate Transgender rights.
- Promote empowerment and self-identification.
How Google Maps can help:
- Transgender safe space - we didn’t get much update on this feature but hoping to get it in future.
- It would be helpful if we include the pronoun option in our profile (in connect/map profile).
- The gender-neutral bathrooms option is helping all people from the spectrum including Transgenders.
- Lgbtq friendly feature also helps to find lgbtq friendly shops/businesses in Google Maps.
Let’s support and promote Transgender rights in our community and society!
If you have any doubts, please feel free to ask in the comments.
Share your thoughts and views in the comments.
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You’ve explained it here very nicely, @Rahul001 . It’s very important to have a broader perspective on this topic and my best wishes to you for this initiative.
Cheers!
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@Rahul001
Ein kleines Video dazu zur Ansicht
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Thanks for taking up this topic @Rahul001
Greatly appreciated.
Most local guides would need more information and education on the following:
- How to identify a Transgender safe space?
- How to identify gender-neutral bathrooms at a business or PoI?
- What are some examples of a Lgbtq-friendly features?
- What are lgbtq friendly shops/businesses?
This information will help local guides to add information to Google Maps.
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Thank you @AjitThite for your support and your kind words.
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Woww, you explained it so well, yes I agree to the point where you said acceptance , validation and awareness is very important but let’s not forget one thing we are humans especially in India it’s observed people do bully transgenders and other communities, one should be mindful in acting the way they are. Firstly they have to accept themselves, be careful of what they share with strangers and always call for help when they see a threat as I want my LGBTQIA friends to be safe and sound. Rest you have done a very elaborative and easy to understand post, thank you for that.
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Thank you @TusharSuradkar for your kind words and support. Basically you right, we need answers.
I will answer in short!
- There’s a transgender safespace option just like Lgbtq friendly but we didn’t got update on that. You can check Tiffany’s post about that . But to find a transgender safespace is just like Lgbtq friendly as it comes under that spectrum.
- Just like lgbtq friendly feature, you can find whether a business or POI hav gender neutral bathroom in their ‘about’ section and goes to amenities .
- I think there’s only two lgbtq friendly features - one is lgbtq friendly ( with logo ) and other is gender neutral bathroom feature. That’s all I know. If I miss anything, please let me know.
- Lgbtq friendly shops/ buisness are business that are friendly to and welcoming LGBTQ communities. They may have lgbtq logo in their shop/business to address. Every lgbtq friendly cafes/coffee shops I visited have gender neutral bathrooms.
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Thats one way to celebrate this week
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First of all kindly accept my congratulations for taking this which we were discussing since long yes I agree the tha plan for meet up which we have decided got delayed due to poor no of like minded people.
However I appreciate that you came out with an alternative as post that’s a great idea.
Believe me the meet up is delayed not postponed we will certainly do it as committed still I am trying to collect more people still added two more let me have good number will surely conduct.
Yes as @Rahul001 bhau asked few public place it’s displayed as transgender toilets are available.
That’s are displayed we have to be just visilent I will share some pic will visit and share.
Yes as @ShreyaMusings shared they are also human being god had created for them they are not at all responsible so we must not bully them
Rather treat them with equality.
This is my personal experience they are very good at heart .
They are also human .
Very nicl explained in this post by Rahul about details with description of community.
So that people can be aware about the same .
@AdrianLunsong I am tagging you in this post for your valuable inputs.
Let’s humanity spread across our community.
We as local guide can do a lot of things.
- Ask the restorant or cafe is it friendly or not we can write in our review about the place,hotel ,cafe etc
- There is a lot of things to be done in this segment.
- I promise hereafter I will try to include one line added in my review for this community.
- As promised here is my link for Transgenders utility services
https://maps.app.goo.gl/EXeNvbZnFVDJVuGF8?g_st=aw
Regards
Anil6969
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Thank you @ShreyaMusings for your kind words and support. Connect is also a safe place to come out from closet as I did. If your friends are local guides, please introduce them our community in connect. You are right that bullying are first things to eliminate. Not only that, there’s also bullying in workspaces.
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Hi @Rahul001 , welcome to Connect and thank you for sharing such a useful post to create awareness! This will help create awareness and help Local Guides to identify safe places for the Pride community! Here is a post of mine that shares ways to make Maps contributions useful to the Pride community Happy guiding !
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Thank you @Anil6969 for your valuable comment and thoughts. Count on me on your meet-up. Most of every lgbtq friendly shops have some lgbtq signs. As i am a person from that non binary spectrum, I most check for lgbtq related reviews when travelling to a unknown places.
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Thank you @Globe_trotter_Ish for your Valuable comment and sharing your post. I have a doubt, is that “Transgender safespace” still available because I cannot see that feature.
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Hi Rahul, you have clearly explained about the kinds of Transgenders. Our scriptures too have recognised them. We have to give due respect to them. Thanks for sharing the information.
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Wonderful @Rahul001 this is a great way to promote awareness and make India more inclusive for everyone.
Adding details related to gender neutral washrooms is one important thing we all should try to do more 
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Thank you @FalguniP for your valuable and support. Gender neutral bathroom really helps people from lgbtq spectrum and option to show in Google maps really make a turn for a good side.
Great post @Rahul001 and Happy Transgender Awareness Week! 
For anybody interested to find out more about the transgender flag, you can check out this Wikipedia page.
>
Attribution: SVG file Dlloyd based on Monica Helms design, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Note: I’ve decided to link to the main page about Pride flags so that you can also check out the different flags representing the variou communities within the LGBTQIA+ family.
Also, a quick check online to confirm my thoughts: a gender neutral toilet is similar to a unisex toilet. Unisex is a term mainly used in the past and means both male and female, whilst gender neutral is a more modern terminology and is considered more inclusive because it refers to male, female and non-binary.
The question I have for everyone is:
Is the ability to mark a business as LGBTQIA+ friendly sufficient? Or should we have a separate option to say it’s Transgender friendly?
Technically, transgender comes under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella term but I can appreciate that there is also some discrimination within the community against the transgender portion. And transgender issues are such a divisive topic at the moment too.
Anyway, thanks for this post! Are you planning more related posts until Nov 20th?
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Thank you @AdrianLunsong for your valuable comments and words. I think LGBTQ friendly feature is enough but “Transgender safespace” is a important feature ( which is under crowd section in About) and I guess it should roll out to more countries.
Actually Nov 19th is World toilet day ( which will focused on gender neutral bathroom) and Nov 20th is Transgender day of remembrance, so I will create such related post!
Thank you for sharing such an important post @Rahul001
You have explained very nicely.
Everyone should feel welcome and respected.
Great initiative!
I’ve spotted this clinic in Kalyan which is LGBTQ friendly
Also there are some cafes in Mumbai where they can work proudly. If I get a chance to visit, I’ll definitely share a post
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Thank you @SaylliWalve1 for your valuable comment and words. Does this clinic have gender-neutral bathrooms. If so, it’s good to edit it in the feature or say it in the review of you visited that place.
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