#NN16 Opening Day

Today is the opening day for the 2016 edition of Netroots Nation, and because of the pre conference event I took part in yesterday, I already have my conference badge, Thursday panel discussion matrix and conference booklet..


Some of the interesting things on the agenda for today is a screening of `Free CeCe`starting at 10:30 AM.   There`s a 1 PM panel  discussing Religious Exemptions and the Bathroom Panic and how to defeat them, and the inagural keynote by the This Week In Blackness (TWIB)  radio team

And as always, if you peeps see me in the halls or different panel discusssions, don't be shy, say hi

#NN16 Pre-Conference Events

Already in bed getting my beauty sleep so that I can get my behind up and head across the street for the pre-conference event that will be starting at 9 AM   I'm part of a Netroots Connect leadership Meeting, and there are other preconference events happening before the conference kicks off tomorrow.

Please check out the #NN16 hashtag for the tweets of various conference attendees like myself.

The schedule of panels and seminars is jam packed with topics that are sure to interest everyone from budding activists trying to figure out what their activism platform is to the seasoned veteran honing their skills and updating their information base and networking contacts

Then there are people who will take advantage of this day before the conference starts to either connect with old friends, make new ones or see the tourist sights in the host city/  We're a few blocks for the Gateway Arch and the National Blues Museum just for starters.

But then again, nothing wrong with hanging out with your friends, either..

The Air Marshal Has Arrived In St Louis!

After a flight from Hobby to.St Louis via Dallas that found me delayed at Love Field because of the arrival of the POTUS and FLOTUS for a major speech and having a bumpier than I liked trip from Dallas to St Louis, I'm now settled into my downtown Show Me State hotel room, have my computer set up and I`m calling Mom to let her know her eldest child/ made it,.

I'm now getting ready after unwinding from that interesting to say the least travel day to attend my second Netroots Nation conference and my first since 2012.

Well, I wasn't too disappointed in the Love Field delay.  I got to see Air Force One make a wide sweeping turn into the Love Field landing pattern and majestically land, trailed by two Secret Service security vehicles while taxiing over to the private aviation area at that airport,

And because of the ground stop, I had time to head over to the airport Whataburger location and destroy one for lunch.  

I also discovered to my delight that St. Louis has a 46 mile two line (Red and Blue) Metrolink light rail line running from the airport to downtown and across the Mississippi River to the East St. Louis Illinois side of the St Louis metro area.

Hey hometown, how about we make the same thing happen that St Louis has done since 1993 and extend our MetroRail to IAH and Hobby?

I have been wanting to come back to Netroots since the 2012 NN event I attended in Providence, and the panel I participated in.  My schedule since 2012 hasn't allowed that to be possible until now.  It's also cool and ironic I'm  a mere 260 miles west of Louisville as I do so.

(Turning eastward and waving towards Da Ville)

I'm here in St Louis on Tuesday because at the St Louis America's Convention Center tomorrow there's a #NN16 pre-conference event happening in which the organizers of it wanted me in the room as part of it.  ,

Looking forward to seeing what transpires, and I'll find out if the stuff we discuss tomorrow starting at 9 AM CDT is on or off the record.

At any rate, will do my best to tweet, comment on my FB page and write about what's happening while I'm there at Netroots Nation repping my community, my hometown and the organizations whose boards I sit on.  

In the meantime, as you watch for my commentary, you can also check out the Netroots Nation website for webcasts, stories and blog posts, and follow the #NN16 hashtag on Twitter just for starters.

I also have a Saturday panel discussion I'll be participating in at 1:30 PM entitled #TalkingWhileBlack: Recognizing and Confronting Racism In The LGBTQ Community.  Should be a fun conversation with me Faith Cheltenham and Ashton Woods being just some of the peeps on that panel.

I'm also planning to pop my head into non-LGBTQ spaces and making my unapologetic Black trans voice heard, and may swing by the radio podcast area before I'm done and heading back to Texas

Perusing the schedule overview now and trying to figure out what seminars and panels I'm going to attend when the conference starts Thursday, and hope #NN16 is as positive an experience for me as the 2012 edition was.

We'll see how that plays out in a few hours.

Moni's Headed To Netroots Nation 2016!

Wasn't expecting to be able to go this year, but it worked out for me and I will now be part of the #NN16 crowd wandering the America's Center Convention Complex in downtown St Louis for this year's edition of Netroots Nation.

This will be my second one after a four year absence from my inaugural one in Providence in which I was part of the historic all-trans Blogging For Transgender Equality panel.  

It was an overall positive experience for me.  I ended up during my time at #NN12 doing two radio interviews on This Week In Blackness (TWIB) and Michaelangelo Signorile's show and meeting a lot of people in the national liberal-progressive movement that i still converse with to this day.

And just as I did during #NN12, I'm not just going to hang out in my LGBT community comfort zone.  I'm planning on hitting some panels geared toward the Black community and letting my unapologetic Black trans voice be heard in those spaces as well.

We'll see what happen next week, but I'm looking forward to going.

Countdown To 2016 TTNS in Killeen, TX

We are now a month away from the eighth annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit, and this year the TTNS will be held on the Texas A&M-Central Texas campus in Killeen, TX.

The TTNS was started by its founding chair Josephine Tittsworth in 2009 with the mission of doing education geared toward initiating policy changes for transgender students, faculty and staff at Texas colleges and universities.

“The purpose of our organization is to not only educate people, but also to provide support and resources to people on school campuses all over Texas so they can engage professionally and respectfully with administration to get policies changed to be inclusive to transgender faculty, staff and students.”  Tittsworth said in an interview with the Killeen Daily News.

The initial TTNS was held on the University of Houston campus in 2009 and drew 25 attendees, and has been the only one I've missed because I was living in Louisville at the time.   The first one I attended was the second TTNS hosted by Rice University in 2010 mere weeks after I moved back home in May, followed by the 2011 TTNS at the University of Houston, the 2012 TTNS at the University of Houston-Clear Lake and UH again in 2013.

Texas State University in San Marcos was the first campus outside the Houston metro area to host the TTNS in 2014, followed by last year's TTNS on the UT Dallas campus in Richardson, TX.




The 2015 TTNS at UT Dallas holds the attendance record so far with 75 attendees, and they are anticipating breaking that record at Texas A&M-CT with 100 attendees.  

Some award winning blogger y'all know will not only be teaching a seminar during this year's event, but I get the honor of being one of the 2016 TTNS keynote speakers along with the legendary godmother of the trans rights movement in Judge Phyllis Frye.  We'll also have another outstanding lineup of presenters at this year's TTNS on the Texas A&M Central Texas campus.

As a result of the TTNS, the number of Texas colleges and universities with trans inclusive policies for students, faculty and staff has grown from just three to currently 38.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in the Killeen area in a few weeks on the Texas A&M- Central Texas, and hope the TTNS exceeds the expected attendance this year..      

BTAC 2016 Final Day Highlights

Our week in Dallas for the Black Trans Advocacy Conference ended far too soon, and now we'll have to say goodbye to each other until next year.

BTAC 2016 has been an amazing event.   In its fifth anniversary year, we moved to a new hotel and broke our attendance record.  We had far more first time attendees this year and international attendees from Brazil and Jamaica..

The international attendees is a pattern I personally love and want to see continue.  The international attendees expand and add another level to the discussions we're having when it comes to being Black and trans.

For those of us who are still in the DFW area or at the hotel, we get the chance to meet up at Blue Mesa for our Farewell Brunch starting at 12 noon CDT.  We talk about the amazing week we had, share one last meal together, and lay some organizational groundwork for BTAC 2017.

Unfortunately, I'm going to have to miss it since my Megabus is leaving for Houston at 2:50 PM, but I'll be thinking about everyone on the ride back down to my end of I-45 and eagerly anticipating the dates for BTAC 2017

BTAC 2016 Day 5 Highlights

The Awards Gala was off the chain last night, and loved the caramel cheesecake we had for dessert.

Today we trade being dressed to the nines for casual clothes and a little family fun.  We leave the cozy space of our host hotel for a few hours to take on the open spaces of the Circle R Ranch in nearby Flower Mound, TX.

Hope the barbecue is on point.  

Once we return to the hotel and get some chill out time from our day trip, the 5th Anniversary Closing Ceremony Party will commence capped off by the Black Diamond Ball.

We'll have people walking the various categories seeking to impress our distinguished panel of judges and get perfect tens.across the board.     .  

BTAC 2016 Day 3 Highlights

Enjoyed doing my Black Trans History 101 panel and being part of the Black Trans Community Summit with Tela Love, Justice Williams and Louis Mitchell.

Also witnessed an amazing display of talent at TransManifest last night that included singers, lip sync, several spoken word performances, and a rapper.

It's Thursday at #BTAC2016.   The highly anticipated events taking place today are the keynote speeches by Mister Cris and Dora Santana and later tonight, the Mr. and Ms. Black Trans International pageants at 7 PM in which the new BTAC royalty will be crowned to represent us..

There will also be two morning blocks and an afternoon block of seminar programming to fill out the rest of this third day of Black Trans Advocacy Conference programming..

Fantasia Fair Day 6

It's Saturday, and after an entertaining Fantasia Fair Follies that drew a standing room only crowd, raised money to build an HIV-AIDS memorial in Provincetown, and another late night out at Club Purgatory and Roomers, the last day of the 41st annual edition of the Fantasia Fair (for me anyway) has on the schedule for today a keynote speech from attorney Dr. Jillian Weiss.

It will be nice to see her again, and she had a big legal win with H-town roots in the Leyth Jamal case.   Saks settled after aiming transphobic discrimination at Ms. Jamal while hiding behind their perfect HRC Corporate Equality Index score to do so.

We are also going to make another attempt at taking that group photo at the base of the Pilgrim Tower

Later tonight will be the awards banquet, and a final opportunity to dress to the nines and break bread with old and new friends.

Hard to believe this FF41 week has gone by so fast, but it most certainly has.

Fantasia Fair Day 5

Moni is still hanging around at the 2015 edition of Fantasia Fair, and the reality is sinking in that this wonderful week in Provincetown is rapidly coming to a close.

It`s Friday, and on the schedule for today is a keynote on a subject near and dear to my heart in trans history being delivered by Dr. Aaron Devor of the University of Victoria, which has a growing transgeder history collection I am anxious to see one day and hear about in this speech.

Other highlights for today include seminars on effective lobbying, one on The Biopsychology of Transsexualism by Dr Thomas Bevan, and the Fantasia Fair Follies at 8 PM followed by late night dancing at Club Purgatory starting at 10 PM

And yeah, yeah, I know what today is TransGriot readers.   The Shut Up Fool Awards post will be up on schedule.

Fantasia Fair Day 4

The amazing week at the longest running trans conference in the US is past the halfway point, and what's on the schedule for today?.

I get to watch someone else give a keynote in the person of Dr. Marisa Richmond.

Group photo is also happening today unless it rains, and I`m also planning on being present for two panel discussions by Denise Norris and Lezli Whitehead.

Denise will have a 10 AM panel entitled ~Toward A gender Authentic Future` That I will be interested inhearing her thoughts about.  

Lezli, who I discovered last night as we walked back from the fashion show at the Crown & Anchor was staying upstairs at the same Dyer`s Barn guest house I am residing in on the ground floor, has an interesting 3 PM/ one I will be attending entitled `Gnder Clear- Communication, Movement & Voice.

At 7 Pm Cody Suzuki will be hosting a Spoken word and Trans Poetry Slam at the Cown & Anchor to close out Thursday.

President Obama's 2015 CBCF Phoenix Awards Speech

While as you readers know I was in Washington DC at the same time this speech happened on Saturday, at $700 a plate that CBC black tie Phoenix Awards dinner was way beyond my tight budget to attend.   But one of the reasons OUT on the Hill is held at that time of year inside the beltway is to give attendees traveling to DC for OOTH the option of attending the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation - Annual Legislative Conference.

I'm seriously thinking about if I' blessed to attend #OOTH 2016, showing up at CBCF-ALC panels next year and asking questions during the ones I attend that remind the Black peeps in that room that some Black people are trans, bi and SGL.

We need to do more of that to remind out own people that #WeExist,

Moving on.  

This is the speech that President Obama gave to the folks who attended this year's 45th annual Phoenix Awards dinner.

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OUT On the Hill 2015 Later This Month

It's one of my fave conferences, and there's a possibility I might be back for it after a three year absence from the event.

The National Black Justice Coalition's (NBJC) 6th annual OUT on the Hill is rapidly approaching on September 16-20 in Washington DC

The last time I was in the OOTH house in 2012, I was honored to participate in this groundbreaking Black trans feminine panel with Danielle King, Rev. Carmarion Anderson, and Valerie Spence moderated by Laverne Cox.

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 I also got to participate in an amazing blogger's panel with LZ Granderson, Danielle Moodie-Mills, and the Anti-Intellect,

This year's theme is We Are Family: Building Stronger Roots Together, and that's what OUT on the Hill has been like to me in the times I have had the opportunity to attend in 2011 and 2012, one big family reunion in which we get to build a stronger Black LGBT community,

It has led to me meeting some amazing Black TBLG leaders , elders and emerging young Black LGBT leaders who are doing and will do some amazing things for our community, two trips to the White House for policy briefings, and getting an opportunity to go to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference that takes place at the same time at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and meet more engaged Black folks, CBC congressmembers and leaders from around the country.

This year #OOTH2015 will also focus on health and wellness on our community.

Every time I get the opportunity to go to OUT on the Hill, I come back to Houston refreshed, renewed and ready to tackle the ongoing job of uplifting the trans end of the Black LGBT community while reminding the Black community at large that you can't spell Black Lives Ma__er without the two T's.  

There's still time for you to register for this event and hope to see y'all there at #OOTH2015.

TransGriot Update:  It's official:  For the first time since 2012, I'll be at OOTH 2015!  I have a Friday noon Eastern time panel discussion I'll be participating in, and I plan to be doing posts and live tweets of all the #OOTH2015 action and happenings.

NBJC's OUT On The Hill 2015 Early Bird Registration Expiring Soon

One of the valid questions I have been getting from my younger trans sisters lately in the wake of a unprecedented deadly week of anti-trans murders is where are the Black organizations that as one sister stated to me in a private conversation  'allegedly support us'?

I can tell you for a fact that one unapologetically Black social justice organization that has had our back for years and ain't 'scurred' to say the word 'transgender' is the National Black Justice Coalition.   

I have had the pleasure of attending two of the OUT on the Hill Conferences in 2011 and 2012, and was part of an all trans feminine panel in the 2012 one moderated by none other than Laverne Cox.   I was also part of a blogger's panel during that 2012 event that included the wonderful Danielle Moodie-Mills and LZ Granderson.   I have also been parts of two NBJC The Black Institutes at Creating Change events in Houston and Denver in 2014-2015

 And yeah, still dreaming about those crab cakes I devoured during one OOTH2012 luncheon.

The 6th annual edition of the OUT on the Hill LGBT Black leadership Summit will be taking place in Washington DC September 16-20, and in addition to getting to attend OOTH2015 and all the events, panel discussion, workshops, plenary sessions and networking opportunities that come with attending OOTH, you get the opportunity to also attend the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference events for an additional $50 on your OOTH registration.

This year's OOTH2015 theme is We Are Family: Building Stronger Roots Together, calls to action the Black family construct in addressing health and wellness issues through four key summit tracks: health care (e.g., physical, mental, emotional, behavioral); economics (e.g., financial health, economic justice, employment security, housing, livable wage, entrepreneurship); spirituality (e.g., faith, religion, wholeness, purpose); and social justice (e.g., criminal justice, education, racial profiling, voting rights).

And that's what OOTH is to me. It's not only a big family reunion, it's one of those unique conventions in which Black LGBT activists, thought leaders, elected officials, emerging leaders, young adults, elders, faith leaders, and allies get together for one inspiring week of learning, organizing, and strategic planning

I've also met some amazing Black LGBT people at this event like Aisha Moodie-Mills, Maya Rupert, Phill Wilson, Je-Shawna Wholley, Samantha Master, Rev. Carmarion Anderson, Dr. Ayana Elliott, filmmakers Maurice Jamal and Yoruba Richen, Imam Daayiee Abdullah, ELIXHER Founding Editor Kimberley McLeod and amazing allies like Chevara Orrin and Kamora Herrington.

And yes, much love to the fab NBJC Executive Director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks and staffers Isaiah Wilson and Venton Jones.  She has made it clear that the T is not silent in or a small letter 't' in this unapologetically Black LGBT org, and the soon to be 12 year old NBJC is one worthy of your support and investing your T-bills in..

If you're thinking about going,  the $100 Early Bird registration rate is closing out August 21, and elders 62 and up register any time for a $100 flat rate.  Emerging leaders get a 50% discount.

I'm trying to make it to DC for OOTH2015 since I haven't attended it since 2012.  Complications have kept me from going back.  I know that after I attended the 2011 and 2012 OOTH events I came back to Texas feeling empowered, refreshed and ready to do some more work on behalf of the Black LGBT community.

Hopefully Moni will be in the OOTH2015 house to report and live tweet what's going on at this year's event.

TTNS 2015 Rapidly Approaching

The Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit is rapidly approaching, and this year will  be coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area for the first time.

The 7th annual edition of this event will take place July 31-August 1 on the UT-Dallas campus in Richardson, TX .

Ever since the first event happened on the University of Houston campus back in 2009, the TTNS has been pushing for trans inclusive policies in Texas school districts, colleges and universities. 

It's no accident that ever since the first TTNS event was conducted,  the number of school districts and Texas based colleges and universities with those policies in place has steadily increased, and the training being done at the Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit has played a role in it.

And ever since I moved back home in May 2010, I haven't missed one.

In addition to the seminar blocks, this year's keynote speakers will be Dr. Stephen Sutton, Ph.D., Assistant Vice Chancellor University of California at Berkley and Heather Snow, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at The University of Texas at Arlington.

If you're in the Dallas-Ft Worth area, in easy flying or driving distance or just wish to attend the event, the TTNS staff, volunteers and their UT-Dallas hosts would love to have you there.   You can register for the event by clicking on this link

See y'all on the UT Dallas campus in a few weeks

Moni's Chilling In Chicago

Another weekend, another hotel room to crash in for another trans community event.

After my flight and CTA train ride, I'm finally chilling (literally) in my hotel room on the 21st  floor of the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place getting ready for tomorrow's )first day of the National Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Anti-Violence Convening. (hashtag #NTAVC15) while the Incite! Conference is going on around us.   My room has a nice view of the South Side and Lake Michigan, not that I will be in it much to enjoy it.
Kudos to my little sis CeCe McDonald, who did some truth telling during her opening plenary panel that also included Marissa Alexander via Skype.

Temp was in the 70's when I left home this morning, and it's in the 30s here as I arrived. But enough about the weather, since I will be indoors for much of my visit here anyway. 

The National Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Anti-Violence Convening was organized by the Transgender Law Center, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone over the next two days starting at 8 AM CDT.

And it looks like the trans gang's all here..  I saw Maria Roman, LaSaia Wade and finally met Jazzmun Crayton  five minutes after I dropped my bags in the room and went to the lobby to see who was here.   .

Also ran into Key Jackson and her partner, Je-Shawna Wholley, Ruby Corado and her husband, Bamby Salcedo, Arianna Lint,  BT, Louis Mitchell, Tiq Milan and a long list of people that is shaping up to be an event in which a wide cross section of the trans community leaders are in the house.

Exactly who I see and what we do that I can talk about will play out over the next few days..

And that's before we even start discussing the 2015 Trans 100 honorees that will be revealed Sunday.

SXSW Interactive Trans Tech Panel

Not too early to get started thinking about what conferences and conventions you'll have an opportunity to attend in 2015 and get your trans learn on.

If you're attending the SXSW Interactive event in Austin, TX from March 8-17, know that transpeeps will be in the house.

One of the fascinating panels that will be taking place during the SXSW Interactive portion of it will be entitled Transgender In Tech: Past Present and Future.

Unfortunately, this will also be the ONLY trans themed panel at SXSW, and that's another issue we need to discuss in another post.

We have a long proud legacy in the tech industry that we can trace back to Dr. Lynn Conway. who has served a role model to many trans peeps currently in the tech industry. 

The panel will bring together three people who have helped forge the path toward trans inclusion in tech spaces.   Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler will be in the SXSW house to talk about Trans* H4CK, his innovative hackathon and speaker series that highlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship and has had successful sessions in Oakland, Las Vegas, Chicago and most recently Boston. 

Dr Lynn Conway will also be there.   IBM fired her after she transitioned in 1968, but Dr. Conway went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics.

The third panelist will be Brielle Henderson.  She is a user interface engineer at Facebook who helped create and implement the custom gender options that you can select on your Facebook profiles.

The facilitator of this fascinating panel will be Allyson Robinson, the VP for Knowledge and Impact with the LGBT Technology Partnership based in Washington, DC. 

She'll facilitate a conversation amongst the panelists that will focus on the trajectory of trans inclusion in technology and what it will mean for an industry that struggles with diversity and inclusion.

So if you are planning to be in Austin for the SXSW Interactive event, you may wish to be there for this fascinating panel. 

This panel brings together three figures who have helped make history advancing transgender inclusion in tech spaces. Lynn Conway was fired by IBM and nearly ended up on the streets when she transitioned in 1968, then went on to achieve international fame as a pioneering researcher in computing and VLSI microelectronics. Brielle Harrison, a user interface engineer at Facebook, helped create and implement that platform's industry-leading custom gender options. Dr. Kortney Ziegler envisioned and built Trans*H4CK, a hackathon and speaker series that spotlights transgender created tech and entrepreneurship.
Allyson Robinson, Vice President for Knowledge and Impact at the LGBT Technology Partnership in Washington, D.C. and a transgender pioneer in her own right, will facilitate a conversation among these trailblazers about the trajectory of transgender inclusion in tech and what it might mean for the future of diversity in the industry.
- See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/39695#sthash.lAYHcBET.z50gWX0o.dpuf

Upcoming 2014 Facing Race Conference In Dallas

Only found our about this conference recently, but since it is happening in the Lone Star State up I-45 from me, I've been invited to attend this year's edition of the Facing Race Conference in Dallas.

The conference is taking place at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, with previous editions of this conference having been held in Baltimore, Berkeley, Chicago, Oakland and New York


It's organized by the Center For Racial Justice Innovation, and the mission of Race Forward is to build awareness, solutions and leadership for racial justice by generating transformative ideas, information and experiences.

This is the first time Facing Race has been held in either Texas or the southern US, and it should be an interesting few days of discussions.  It's also showing on its website as sold out. 

The Facing Race conference is happening November 13-15, and you know that if I'm in the Hilton Anatole Hotel house, I'll be reporting on the interesting things going on there.

OUT On The Hill 2014 Dates Set

I've had the opportunity to go and participate as a panelist during the 2011 and 2012 editions of the National Black Justice Coalition's OUT on the Hill conference, and we're now less than four months away from the 2014 edition of it.

OUT on the Hill is NBJC's annual leadership conference.  It gives us a chance in the Black LGBT community to come to Washington DC for several days of networking, lobbying, meetings and learning best how to Own Our Power

This year's 5th annual event is set for September 24-27, and if you're interested in attending you can e-mail OOTH2014@nbjc.org

23rd WPATH Biennial Symposium Starts Today

The World Professional Association For Transgender Health (WPATH) is gathered together in Bangkok, Thailand for their 23rd Biennial Symposium in the Land of Smiles from February 14-18 (Thailand time)

The WPATH Symposium's purpose is to present professionals working in the field of transgender health with the latest advances in research, education, clinical service, and advocacy to promote the health and well being of trans people and their families. 

You know, all that research on trans issues our haters claim doesn't exist or they wish to ignore.

The WPATH Symposium scientific program addresses topics in several areas including primary care, psychiatry, endocrinology, and surgery; psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy; sociology and anthropology; gender and sexuality; speech and voice therapy; and other related fields relevant to transgender health.  Professionals, clinicians, researchers, and academics were invited to submit before the start of the conference relevant abstracts.

The symposium will also have a variety of special panels, paper presentations, poster sessions and speakers, including some on the following topics: Children, families, and youth; ethnic/racial and cultural diversity in transgender health; transition-related services; community-based health care and community-participatory research; transgenderism in sports; legal & human rights; and the latest advances in brain research.

The theme of this 23rd WPATH Biennial Symposium is 'Transgender Health From Global Perspectives' and there are a record 523 registrants for the conference from 39 nations headed to the event from every corner of our planet to the conferences host hotel at the Anantara Bangkok Riverside Hotel.

From H-town to take part in this premier symposium on transgender health issues will be Dr. Colt Keo-Meier and the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Transgender Civil Rights Project and TPOCC founder Kylar Broadus will be in the WPATH house for it as well.  

When they arrive in Bangkok, they will witness plenary speakers covering topics such as Development of Sex-Reassignment Surgery in Thailand, with Preecha Tiewtranon MD; Experience of Uterus Transplantation From Mothers to Daughters, with Liza Johannesson MD, PhD; Co-Dependency as a Way of Life, with Louis Gooren MD; ICD Plenary, moderated by Gail Knudson MD; The Brain of Transsexual Persons, with Antonio Guillamon MD; and A Brief History of the Thai Kathoey: Behind the Myths and Stereotypes, with Peter Jackson PhD.Q

One of the concerns of the international trans community is next year's scheduled May 2015 World Health Organization ICD-11 revision and the recently released DSM-V one as it relates to gender diagnoses.  That subject will be addressed during the time these transgender health professionals are gathered in Bangkok.

WPATH has already called for depathologization, but just in case you missed it:

The WPATH Board of Directors strongly urges the de-psychopathologisation of gender variance worldwide. The expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon which should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative. The psychopathologlization of gender characteristics and identities reinforces or can prompt stigma, making prejudice and discrimination more likely, rendering transgender and transsexual people more vulnerable to social and legal marginalization and exclusion, and increasing risks to mental and physical well-being. WPATH urges governmental and medical professional organizations to review their policies and practices to eliminate stigma toward gender-variant people.

It is going to be an exciting, informative upcoming four days in Bangkok.