While Father's Day and Mother's Day tend to traditionally be "gendered" holidays, a leader in Windsor's transgender community thinks there's a way to celebrate these days with a greater spirit of inclusivity, in a way that's mindful of gender identity.

Jayce Carver, the executive director of W.E. Trans Support said she's celebrated these holidays over the years with her family, with her foster kids, and she wants people to remember that it's not an exclusively cysgender holiday.

"I think I'd want more of the community to understand that trans women are mothers and trans men are fathers," said Carver, adding that members of the trans community sometimes feel excluded.

"We need to make these holidays a little bit more inclusive of gender identity and those who identify as fathers and mothers."

Parent's Day

The United Nations proclaimed June 1 the Global Day of Parents back in 2012, which Carver explained not many people know about, but is what she describes as an inclusive alternative to the traditional holidays.

"Not all families are the same," said Carver. "That's a day that a lot of our gender-non-conforming or non-binary parents could celebrate with their children."

Tap on the player below to hear more from Jayce Carver on the CBC's Afternoon Drive:

Carver would like society to allow for more space for members of the trans community to be a part of a holidays.

"When you think of holiday greeting companies, when they promote holidays on TV, we should be showing families that are queer and trans in publications that reach the community so that they see our families as normalized."

'It's not a joyous day for everyone'

Carver recalled growing up as a child of a divorced family, without her father in her life, and how Father's Day would sometimes make her feel left out.

Mother's Day, on the other hand, has always been a big holiday for her, celebrating her mother, who played the role of both parents to her growing up.

She makes the point that it's important to celebrate our parents while they're here, but that these holidays can also be challenging for those who may have suffered some kind of loss, like the loss of a parent.

"We have to be mindful of the people who either can't become parents for some reason or another, or have lost a child, and so their Father's Day or Mother's Day seems bleaker," said Carver.

"It's not a joyous day for everyone ... People sometimes feel great loss on these days."