OOTH 2015- Friday Recap

My second full day in Washington DC was chock full of activity in addition to my OUT on the Hill business I was scheduled to handle at 12:30 PM EDT.

I ended an enjoyable two day stay with Joanna to move into the conference hotel.

The last time I was at The Beacon, there was six inches of snow on the ground and I landed at DCA thirty minutes before they shut the airport down.

This time I ended up on the seventh floor, but I had to wait two hours before that room became available after checking in at 8 AM.  I left Joanna's early and headed there in the hope that I'd be able to move my stuff in. get in diva mode for the plenary I needed to do that was scheduled at 12:30 PM, and get to handle the #OOTH2015 reporter role by live tweeting the panels before and after my session.

It was also moving day for OUT on the Hill 2015, because after having events at HRC headquarters for the last two days. we were moving to the Beacon Hotel for the afternoon session and tomorrow's events.

There's an old saying that if you want to make God laugh, plan something. The room not being ready screwed that game plan I had to move, get into diva mode and get mentally ready for the panel.

Mu main business of the day was the Valerie Spencer moderated panel entitled a Focus on the Plight of  Trans Women of Color in America that featured myself, Lourdes Hunter, and Angelica Ross..

While many of the #OOTH2015 attendees liked the panel and told me so after it was over, I wasn't happy about it.

I felt the conversation got far too focused on sex work.  I was also not happy about some drama stirred up by one of the panelists, and our panel's start being delayed not only by that drama and her shady behavior during it,by a speech from a DOJ official who stated in it that he wanted to ';learn more about the trans community', then bounced after his remarks.

I spent an hour after that panel taking with Donna Payne-Hardy, so I didn't rejoin the OOTH2015 action until it was time for the final workshops of the day.

I checked out one entitled I Just Don't Do Doctors' which was an enlightening discussion about the medical needs of aging Black lesbians that got broadened to talk about the health needs of Black LGBTQ women in general,

We then headed up to the Beacon's Sky Bar for the OOTH 2015 Partners and Sponsors reception. While I was still a little bummed about the trans panel, getting some delicious food in my system, conversation and straight up partying with a purpose helped ge get over it.

So did that free Slurpee I got a few hours later.