NABJ and Philly Trans Wellness Conference Also Meeting This Week

There are two other conventions important to my life as an unapologetically Black  trans feminine writer and journalist that are happening as I sit here in New Orleans awaiting the start of Netroots Nation

And noting when I looked at the calendar that three events I wanted to attend were happening in different parts of the country at literally the same time meant I had to make a hard call on which one I would attend 

Being asked to do the panels at Netroots Nation and it occurring in NOLA made that hard call easier,  but it still isn't going to be easy to miss my trans fam or my NABJ family, much less the convos taking place at both conferences.

In the Motor City, the National Association of Black Journalists are gathering starting today and running through August 5  at the Detroit Marriott at Renaissance Center.

I've always wanted to attend an NABJ event, and the first time I got to do so came when it was held in Boston in 2014.    I was there to participate in a panel with Kellee Terrell and Kenyon Farrow on the topic of properly reporting about transgender people moderated by Tiq Milan.

Two years late I received the amazing experience of attending the joint NABJ-NAHJ Unity event in Washington DC at the historic Wardman park Hotel.

During a presidential election year, both the NABJ and the National Assn of Hispanic Journalists organizations hold their conventions there.  It is an amazing opportunity to network with members of both organizations    In addition to meeting my journalistic heroes and sheroes in the African American and Latinx journalism worlds , I also got to witness the panels and the press conference with Hillary Clinton

Starting at the same time as #NN18 is one of the largest trans conference s in the United States in the now Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

Probably because of its location in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, it draws up to 3000 people for its panel discussions and professional medical tracks.

It's the event where I also met Jazz Jennings and her amazing family, and met Nicole Maines and her family in addition to having the opportunity to participate in some panels. 

I have been attending the now PTWC since 2012, and the last time I was there for it was in 2016 for not only the conference, but a Trans United Fund board meeting.

That 2016 one I got there after a fun ride up I-95 with Fiona Dawson after we'd been to the White house for the LGBT Pride Reception.  I got to spend some quality time with not only the TUF board and my friends in the community, but my homegirl Dionne Stallworth

That 2016 event is also memorable for me because the morning I was preparing to leave the city to go back to Washington DC, I began hearing the news about the horrific Pulse mass shooting in Orlando.

To my friends attending the NABJ and PTWC, sorry I can't be there because I'm in NOLA, but definitely will be thinking about y'all as I'm scarfing down my beignets.

Interesting East Coast Trip For The Air Marshal

After scrambling for the last few days to make the logistics of this trip work, my departure day has finally arrived.  I'm at my old Houston Intercontinental stomping grounds for the first time in two years to take a flight once again on United to the East Coast.

But this one will be a little more emotional for me.  In addition to getting to see some of the CAL airline peeps who haven't retired yet that I used to work with, Terminal C is where my very public physical transition began back in 1994.

I then add to that emotion by traveling to Washington DC for tomorrow's White House LGBT Pride Reception and the first time ever I get to attend..

After seven years of frustratingly not being invited to it, I finally got the nod, and most importantly to me is I got to go when President Obama is still in office.  This will be the last LGBT Pride Reception he will host, and I'm so looking forward to being at the White House, seeing who else got invited to attend, and trying not to cry as I observe the event.

Then it's heading up I-95 when that event concludes for the drive up to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection for the 15th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.

I have a panel discussion on June 10 I'll be participating in with Mari Brighe, Joanna Cifredo and Brynn Tannehill.   Should be an interesting one and i hope those of you in attendance at PTHC come check it out.

It's the second one for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone once I get to DC and Philly..

This will be an interesting trip in which I get to fly to one city and drive to another one.

2015 Philly Trans Health Conference Starts Today

Today starts the 14th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, and once again something has come up that has prevented me from attending it..

Guess I'm going to have to go to last year's strategy of not planning on going, and then things will fall into place and I'll be at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for it.

Anyway, let me get over being bummed I'm not there for it and get back to reporting on the country's (and possibly the world's) largest trans themed conference with over 3000 attendees..

The welcoming ceremony for this year's conference kicks off at 8:45 AM EDT and as usual it will be packed with informative seminars over the next three days.

And the timing of it once again comes at an interesting moment for the trans community with all the media attention on trans issues post-Caitlyn Jenner reveal.   The other thing I love about it is that the PTHC is blessed to have attendance and panels from trans people and leaders from around the world in addition to the professional tracks,.

And once again I'm missing it.  I'm also going to miss the start of a new PTHC tradition, a trans flag raising that will fly at Philadelphia City Hall for the duration of the event.form June 4-6

The keynote speakers for this year's edition of the PTHC will be Tiq Milan this afternoon at 1 PM EDT and Trudie Jackson on Friday.   Turner Stulting and Peter Fair will be the youth speakers on Thursday and Friday.

So for those of you in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, have a cheesesteak for me and enjoy the next three days at this year's edition if the PTHC.

PTHC 2015 Workshop Deadline Is Friday

The 2015 edition of the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference will be happening June 4-6, and the deadline for submitting proposed workshops and panels is fast approaching.

The Philadelphia Trans Health Conference is considered the largest trans themed conference in the United States, and draws international attendees as well as trans people from across the country.

If you want to present a workshop at PTHC, need to get it in to them by Friday January 30.

The PTHC team is also interested in proposals that target the African-American and Latino/a trans communities, trans masculine people, and Professional Development tracks just to name a few areas they are interesting in having programming and workshops for.

I attended my first ever PHTC last year and really enjoyed the experience and the people I met there including Jazz, and hope that I can return for the 14th annual edition of the event this year.   I also encourage those of you in range of Philadelphia and our trans community allies to consider attending this free conference that will be housed at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.   You just need to register for it.

If you have any other questions about the PTHC that are not answered on their website, please contact PTHC coordinator Samantha Dato at sdato@mazzonicenter.org

And you have until Friday to get those workshop proposals into the PTHC organizing team

Heading Back To H-town From PTHC 2014

The 2014 Philly Trans Health Conference is one for the history books, and Sammi Jo probably has her phone off and is resting after the successful conclusion of this 13th annual event. 

I had a wonderful time, and would definitely life to come back in 2015 if we can make it happen.  Maybe next time as a keynote speaker.  (hint. hint)

We'll see if that becomes a reality next year or at a future PTHC, but now I have to go back to my H-town life.  Assuming both my flights leave on time from here and the ATL, I'll be home and destroying some Pappas barbecue at Hobby around 1:20 PM CDT.

Thanks to Jennifer Michelle Gellar for being my gracious roommate while I was here in Philly.  

It opened the door for me having an even more wonderful first timer experience meeting Jazz, Jeanette, her amazing family and all the people who advocate for trans kids.

And to my trans brothers and trans sisters, thanks for the love.  I get just as big a kick out of meeting you as you do in being around me.   You will go on, if you aren't already, to do some amazing things.

 I marvel at how fabulous y'all look while doing so. 

And hopefully, I'll be blessed to do PTHC again next year if they'll have me around.

Later Philly...Houston awaits.

PTHC 2014 Diary-Day Three Recap

It's the last day of the 2014 Philadelphia Trans Health Conference, and my body told me it was time to get more sleep than I have been getting the last two nights.

So after I did some writing and had breakfast, decided to take a little nap before heading to the convention center.  That little nap lasted until 10 AM, so guess my body needed the sleep. 


After shaking off the cobwebs, I spent some time after I arrived at the convention center hanging out with my Houston peeps Jay, Robin, Koomah and the rest of the gang at The Gender Book table.  Did the same with Jeanette and family at their foundation table, and the BTMI-Philly chapter table

I spent more quality time with Dr Lobdell.  I talked to some of my TransGriot fans and with others plotting the Black Trans Revolution that won't be televised.   Even saw Kye Allums for a moment before he headed back to New York and Kylar Broadus.

And I popped my head in for a few moments at the Justice For Jane event in room 109A.

The first seminar I attended on this final day was a 2:20 PM Simaya Fogle moderated one entitled "Transitioning In The Black Family'   The panel with Lisa, Ebonee, Destiny, Christian, Leo and cis man Tierre told transition stories from a black perspective.   Tierre was on the panel to discuss the issues of being in a dating relationship with a trans woman.

Hmm, sounds like a panel topic that needs to happen for next year

It led to some commenters revealing some deeply personal secrets which will remain off the record for this post.

During the 4:05 PM block I attended Ebonee's seminar in Room 104A entitled 'Get Your Tens And Make Me Know It!!!'    The seminar discussed the ballroom and pageant worlds and how both can be used as tools of empowerment and self growth for trans women of color.

In between those seminars, the sidebar meetings kept happening, people continued to connect with each other, and information was disseminated in the scheduled sessions until the last ones wrapped up at 7:00 PM.

And when that last seminar closed, so did the 2014 edition of the Philly Trans Health Conference. 

I had a wonderful first timer experience at the PTHC.  It was a blast getting to meet many of the people I've been talking to online for years and in one or two cases over a decade.

And yes, was nice to get out of Houston's warm, humid weather for three days.


But all good things must come to an end, and that is the case for this PTHC conference.  While I'm sad it has come to a close, the memories of this event and hopefully the friendships and working partnerships started here will last for a lifetime.

It's also time to take what we learned during these three days here back to our various hometowns and countries.  Once we arrive back home, let's put into practice what was discussed in those sessions and in the conversations away from the conference venue.

And hopefully I'll get to see everyone next year for the 2015 edition of PTHC.

   

PTHC 2014 Diary-Day Two Recap

It's the middle day of the 2014 Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.  After a nap I arose at 4 AM to do some writing, get breakfast when the hotel started serving it at 6 AM and take a nap before heading over to the convention center for another day of PTHC seminars and fun.

The seminar action started at 8 AM, so I didn't get there until after 9:30 AM after receiving a call from Koko Jones, who was prepping to leave for the drive down to Philly for a concert that she, KOKUMO and Liz Clair were going to perform later in the afternoon .

One of the first people I ran into was the lovely Geena Rocero, whose regal supermodel presence and bubbly personality lit up the hallway.  As we chatted people began to recognize her and started asking to take pictures.   One of the people doing so was another one of my longtime Facebook friends in Karen Kendra Holmes.   I also got to see Fredrikka Maxwell again, and finally got to meet Nadia Belinda Roberts. 

Not sure if were related yet.  That's a discussion we'll have to have at some point for today.

Moments later I ran into my homegirl Samantha Master as I was standing by the check-in desk entrance so that I could see who was coming and going.  We also saw something for the first time we hadn't seen over the last two days: the sun.

PTHC Conference Coordinator Samantha Jo Dato joined me and Samantha Prime for a moment as Sammi Jo contined to do her job of making sure things ran smoothly.  She had us cracking up laughing about some of the humorous things that had occurred so far and how she was handling the challenge of making the country's largest trans confrence run smoothly while looking flawless.

This is the first year this #girllikeus has coordinated the massive undertaking the PTHC is and she and the volunteers have done a wonderful job along with the friendly staffers of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

I left to check out some of the other PTHC vendors and organizational info tables on the other side of the massive section of the Pennsylvania Convention Center housing our conference.

I stopped at the Lambda Legal one to talk the the folks manning it and Dru Levasseur stepped up.  We caught up on old business as he congratulated me for helping get the HERO passed.  I told him some of the funny things that happened during that HERO fight as I gave him the update on how the Decline to Sign campaign in defense of our hard won May 28 Houston human rightts victory was transpiring.

I chatted with Sue Fulton, and one of our topics was about the effort to get open trans military service done.   Since it was approaching noon and lunchtime, I headed back to the entrance.

I was surprised by my elegantly dressed homegirl Dr. Ayana Elliott, who advised me about an upcoming event she is planning.   I will keep you TransGriot readers in the loop about when it happens once I receive the details from her.   I ran into Sean Coleman, who came down from NYC and told me he owes me a spades butt kicking  (yeah, right)

You have my cell number, so let the games begin. 

I went to Reading Market to fulfill my mission of destroying a cheesesteak, and after consulting with my Philly peeps, settled on grabbing it from Carmen's.  And yes, it was worth it.   But because I was waiting so long to get that cheesesteak, I missed Harper Jean's keynote.

So I decided to take that time to peruse the afternoon session schedule and decide which one of them I would grace with my presence.  I ran into my homegirl Denise Norris, and that jumpstarted a nice sidebar conversation about messaging that Lourdes Hunter joined before I headed to Room 107B to check out a 2:20 PM seminar entitled 'Translatinas. Are We There Yet?' presented by Cristina Herrera and Rachel Mark.

It chronicled the issues that trans Latinas deal with in their transitions and some of the work the NY based Gender Identity Project has done to help people overcome some of those obstacles.  It was a fascinating discussion that was eventually opened up to the audience for Q&A before time ran out.

When the 4:05 PM seminar slot arrived I had a dilemma.  I wanted to see the performance of KOKOMO, Liz and Koko, but there was also a seminar called 'Transmen and Transwomen of Color Come Together' that I also wanted to be in Room 106A for.  

So after chatting with Martina Downey, I decided to exit room 103C, head to the other seminar, watch half of it, then depart to come back to the room to watch the conclusion of 'KOKUMO and Friends In Concert.'

But fate had other plans for me.   I thought my 2014 PTHC presenting days were done after yesterday's Trans Pioneers panel.   When I arrived in Room 106A it was a full house with no presenter in sight.   The volunteer in charge of monitoring the room asked me to pinch hit.  

So after waiting another five minutes for that person to arrive, I facilitated the conversation in that room that touched on issues of relationships between transmen and transwomen, visibility of transmen, the 'T-Word', race relations, and disclosure. 

I had fun doing it, and got thank you's from the participants and the grateful room monitor when it was over.   But because I was occupied with my unexpected facilitator duties, I missed the concert.

Unfortunately so did Koko.   Her car broke down enroute to Philly from her northern New Jersey home base.  She's okay, but she was upset and disappointed she missed the PTHC jam session.

There will be another day.  What's more important is that you're safe and we will meet each other soon.

The final panel of the day was a 5:40 PM Kylar Broadus moderated one sponsored by TPOCC that was focused on Intergenerational POC Work.

After an icebreaker in which the capacity room was asked what is their favorite guilty pleasure (mine Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream and giving right wingers hell), panelists BT, Milan, Lourdes and Kim answered questions from Kylar before the floor was opened to powerful testimonies from Tela Love, Precious Davis and others before we ran out of time at 7:00 PM to close Day 2 of the conference.

I headed back to the hotel after taking more photos with my girls, telling Katrina Goodlett some of my humorous airline stories (and yeah, y'all need to check out her Kitty Bella radio podcast on Tuesdays) and heading downstairs to the annual Transkids pool party Jeanette was throwing for all the transkids and parents.

I got as chance to meet more of the parents with trans kids and have conversations with them before i stepped out for a few moments to attend a SPART*A reception that started in the hotel pub area at 8:30 PM.  

At that reception I had the chance to chat with Brynn Tannehill and friends about some community issues and other news of the day before I retreated to attempt to compose some posts and check on e-mail.

But the combination of quiet, a full stomach and a day that started at 4 AM had me nodding off and surrendering to my body telling me it was time to crash and conclude Day 2 of my PTHC 2014 experience.
    

PTHC 2014 Diary-Busy First Day

The first day of the 2014 edition of the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference dawned overcast and cool,  but it didn't dampen my excitement over this being a first time attendee of the event.

I knew I was going to see a lot of people here, but even I was surprised at just how many people showed up and are showing out in the halls of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

I walked into the massive building and less than 30 seconds into my PTHC day ran in Jazz, who pointed me in the right direction toward the registration desk with all its helpful volunteers.   Neither did it take me long to start running into the long list of friends in the community and peeps I've known for years on Facebook but were finally seeing in the flesh.  

I started seeing people like Sharron Cooks, Simaya Fogle, Katrina Goodlett, Precious Davis, Geena Rocero, Christian Axavier Lovehall, Jevon Martin, Jabriel Williamson, Martina Downey, Nika Jewell, Kristen Parker, Sirena Rivera and Maria Roman.    Ran into Dr Bambi Lobdell, who I last saw when she was my gracious host at SUNY-Onenonta.     
 
Ran in Jos Truitt, who is looking good and sporting a new blonde haircolor since the last time I saw her in DC.  We took a few moments to talk about current events community wise before I started running into other people who wanted to say hi to me.  

I started running into my Philly based activist friends like Dionne Stallworth, Sade Ali and Charlene Arcila.  

The last time I'd seen Toni-Michelle Williams as at the 2011 OUT on the Hill event when she was a student at Norfolk State.   Now my collegiate homegirl is looking fabulous and in the PTHC house.

You know a conference is a good one when you have a multitude of seminars that you can attend but can only choose one or have to split time in order to support someone.

When the 10:20 AM block started I settled on attending the one featuring Jazz and Jeanette and transteen Jessica an her mother  It was a fast paced multimedia presentation in which Jessica and Jazz discussed their very different transition experiences, discussed medical opitions, their lives and future plans. 

Jazz continues to amaze me as someone who is wise beyond her 13 years and is an icon to many trans youth.  Her mother is also looked to as a leader in the trans parenting ranks.

We had a scheduled lunch break before we moved into the highly anticipated keynote speech of Janet Mock.  After what happened to me at CC14 in which I was standing for much of Laverne's Creating Change keynote, I made sure to get my behind to the rooms where the speech was scheduled to take place because it was going to be standing room only.

I ran into Ruby Corado and her man enroute to 108A/B and I sat next to them and Lourdes Hunter for Janet's Mock's riveting speech.   One of the lines I loved from it among many of them was "We are our own saviors."  Janet quoted Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston during the speech before closing with a reading from Redefining Realness and answering a few questions from the audience.

After that concluded, I gave her a quick hug before I left her to her task of signing autographs for the long line of people eagerly waiting for her to sign their copies of her book and me Ruby and her boyfreind grabbing lunch at Reading Market across the street.  .  .

As I exited the room ran into L'lerret Ailith and some of the trans sisters to take a few photos, converse with Geena and Bianca who I met at the hotel yesterday.  

After lunch ran into Elizabeth Clair, who arrived from Denver after enduring the cross country bus trip from Hades.  I was seeing for the first time since 2008 and she is part of an music event featuring herself, KOKUMO and Koko Jones.

I continued to run into Facebook friends, people and fans of the blog as the clocked ticked down to my panel discussion which I discovered after perusing the scheduling grid was Thursday evening and NOT today.

The Trans Pioneers of Color one at 5:40 PM led to me finally meeting my longtime friend BT, who was part of the panel with myself, Christine, Dionne, Janis, and Kim Watson moderated by Leo Watts.

The panel in room 104B was to an overflow crowd.  It also ran over due to all of us having a lot to say about what it was like back in the day for us trans elders on a range of subjects from lack of trans POC visibility to race and class differences in a transition.  We asnwered questions from the audience before ending it

That also closed out Day One of the Thursday seminars.

After going back to the hotel, chilled out with roomie Jennifer and Liz, grabbed some dinner and happily destroyed another Slurpee.  Cheesesteak is on the agenda for today.

I found myself on the patio having a long conversation until 2 AM with Lourdes and several transwomen of color in which we talked about a wide variety of issues.  Some of them fall under the Trans Revolution Will Not Be Televised territory, while others ranged from talking about our personal lives to discussing trans politics.   The t-word controversy came up and had us discussing the latest white transwoman gay males have trotted out to justify their continued use of a word we've told them and the world is offensive in Candis Cayne.

You know I'm going to comment on that later, but the bed is calling me right now.

Don't need bags under my eyes for all the photos I'll be taking in a few hours .

PTHC 2014-Day 1 Preview

It's the first day of the 13th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.   It's my first ever one, and I'm excited and feeling blessed to be here after so many failed attempts to be here for this conference  day of school

Megathanks to my roomie for this event, my fellow Texan Jennifer Michelle Gellar

The action at the Pennsylvania Convention Center kicks off at 10:20 AM EDT with the first day of seminars and programming that will include Janet Mock's opening keynote address at 12:45 PM.

And who will I run into today?   Well, if I don't get too busy, will tell y'all about it later.

To  check out what's happening during the conference, the Twitter hashtag is #TransHealth2014

PTHC 2014 Diary-Oh, The People You Will Meet

One of the wonderful things about events like the Philly Trans Health Conference is that for one of the few times in our lives, trans people and our allies are in relatively safe spaces in which we are the majority, and we meet others like ourselves.

And yes, as I mentioned in a previous post, there are people in this community I'm just as anxious and exited to meet as they are to meet me.

That fun started for me even before I walked into my Center City area hotel that will be my PTHC home base through Sunday.

When I arrived at the airport, I was mentally prepared to catch the SEPTA train as I usually do to downtown Philly.  While I was on the sky bridge to the train station Leo Watts called and let me know he was there to pick up some other peeps who had arrived.

Took me a few minutes to get scooped up because I ended back up on the departure side of the ring road, but that started a fun filled van ride to the hotel.

That ride from the airport got me to the hotel faster, but it also meant that I'd be burning time in the lobby area waiting for Jennifer to get here from DFW, and her flight, like everyone's flying into PHL yesterday suffered ATC delays.

So I amused myself by checking my Facebook page, prepping some blog posts and trying to whittle down what fool or fools get tomorrow's Shut Up Fool Award.

While I was doing that, thought my mind was playing tricks on me when I saw Jazz and her sister Ari walk by and head downstairs to the pool area.    Turned out it was not a mirage because I saw their mother Jeanettte five minutes later. 

As I've mentioned before, just as there are people who are majorly excited to meet legendary me, there are people in this community I fangirl over as well.   Jazz is one of those people,

So the mutual lovefest between me and Jeanette started.   She comes in the category of people I've gotten to know and have talked to for years on Facebook but hadn't officially met until yesterday.   I got to meet her parents, and since Jeanette is also one of the leaders in the trans parent and trans youth community, I began to meet some of the mothers of trans kids as Jeanette talked up my blog.

I also began to meet trans fathers.   I got to meet Wayne and his daughter Nicole, and it wasn't long before Wayne and I were having substantive conversations about much of the advocacy work he was doing and other issues.   I also began to learn that dads of trans kids are also beginning to get vocal and organized just like the trans moms have had to do for their trans younglings for years

And yes, the highlight of that day was beginning to meet the trans kid themselves and get those hugs from them.  Because the bottom line of my advocacy has always been to leave a better world for them. It's nice to see firsthand the fruits of that longtime advocacy as you watch them network and bond with each other.

And as I said before I arrived, hugs are always appreciated.

Finally Going To PTHC!

I was supposed to attend and take part in a panel discussion at the 2013 PTHC event.  Circumstances beyond my control kept it from happening and I was bitterly disappointed about that. 

But this is a new year and I can make this official announcement now the details have been finalized.  I'm jetting back up to Philly for the first time since my last trip up there for the 13th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference .

Moni will be in the PTHC house for the entire event when it starts June 12-14.  I'm excited because it is the largest trans themed conference in the United States and arguably the world with over 3000 attendees.  

Nope it won't be as a keynote speaker (this time).   The keynote speaker duties for the 2014 PTHC will be ably handled by Janet Mock on Thursday and Harper Jean Tobin on Friday.   If you have copies of Janet's New York Times bestselling book Redefining Realness, bring 'em so she can autograph them.   I'll just be looking for another hug from her.  

It's not on the schedule yet, but I'll be participating in a Trans Pioneers of Color panel at 4 PM EDT on Friday.   

So for the first time ever I'll be in the PTHC 2014 house in reporter and first timer attendee mode.  I'll be there not only for that panel, but roaming around the Pennsylvania Convention Center checking out other panels over those days that interest me.

I'll also chronicle what happens at PTHC 2014 for my TransGriot electronic pages.

There are a lot of people I'm so looking forward to seeing in the community again at PTHC 2014 and connecting with I'm up there.  Some of those peeps include many of my brothers in the BTMI-Philly chapter I didn't get to see at BTAC in Dallas.  I'm also looking forward to meeting people I've only connected with through Facebook or online, but have known for years like Koko Jones.  There are others I've admired for a long time but will be meeting for the first time like our activist trans teen Jazz.   

Yes, even award winning activist me has people that she admires, is inspired and motivated by and goes into fangirl mode when she's around them. 


I'm also pondering the irony that I finally get to go to this conference mere months after Jaci Adams' passing in February.  She was a longtime PTHC planning committee board member and will be missed by everyone whose lives she touched. 

To our trans younglings and others who happen to see legendary me wandering in the Pennsylvania Convention Center halls, don't be shy, just stop me and say hello.  Contrary to what my haters tell you, I don't bite and I accept hugs.  If I have time, I'll be more than willing to sit down, chat with you and take photos during my time at PTHC.

That's what these conferences are ultimately for.  We get the opportunity to meet and greet each other, network and build working relationships with each other.   It's also time to share experiences, tactics and life stories to lift up each other and advance the entire trans human rights movement.

And you can bet I'm looking forward to destroying some cheesesteaks, Tastykakes, water ice and Slurpees while I'm up there. 

For those of you who are going to PTHC 2014, see you in Philly.

2013 Philadelphia Trans Health Conference

The 12th annual Philadelphia Trans Health Conference kicked off yesterday and runs through Saturday, June 15.

It is the largest trans themed conference in the United States (yep it's bigger than Southern Comfort in the ATL) with up to 2,500 attendees, and I'd hoped to finally get this off my conference bucket list this year.   I was scheduled to take part in a panel discussion, but once again my buzzard's luck with this conference continues. 

Unfortunately I'm not going to be at the Pennsylvania Convention Center to meet and greet you peeps or on that 5:40 PM Saturday panel I was scheduled for due to circumstances beyond my control. 

Yeah, I'm disappointed I'm not there.   But as much as I'd like to be at every major conference this community holds, sometimes the stars don't align for you to be able to attend it.

I can tell you one conference I will be there in full effect for in 2014, and it happens from January 29-February 2 in Houston at the Hilton Americas hotel.   

I'm really bummed about missing this edition of the PTHC because not only were Audrey Mbugua, Liesl Theron and Victor Mukasa scheduled to be there, so was Jazz and a long list of other people in the community I've been wanting to meet.   There were also a lot of my friends in the community I wanted to see who were attending the PTHC as well.  

I was also looking forward to destroying a few cheesesteaks and Slurpees while I was there.

But for those of you who are in Philly for this event, I hope you're having a wonderful time, you're getting your learn on with all the wonderful seminars and panel discussions that are part of this event, and you'll get the opportunity to check out the meet and greet event happening later tonight at the William Way Community Center at 1315 Spruce Street from 8-10 PM EDT sponsored by the Task Force, TPOCC, NBJC, NCLR  and The Transgender Law Center.  

Oh well, here's hoping I can make the 2014 PTHC.