This post is a little late, but I've been busy with moving and prepartions for surgery, so I haven't had a chance to write out everything I wanted to about the Philly Trans Wellness Conference this year.
One of my favorite parts of living in Philly is the Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference hosted by the Mazzoni Center. The Mazzoni Center is a really great community health center in Philly that prioritizes the needs of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2000, they started hosting the Philly Trans-Health Conference. It was then renamed to the Philly Trans Wellness Conference to prioritize the wide variety of needs that trans people have beyond healthcare. It has grown into the largest trans specific health conference in the world and is free to attend.
I've gone the past two years it was in person and it was a really incredible experience being in a room with hundreds of other trans people. There's at least 10 different panels happening at every hour. There's different faith services all day. There's events for GaySL (queer American Sign Language), yoga, legal advice, financial advice, hobbies, a day camp for kids, panels for allies, and so much more. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year was online, and didn't have nearly as many events as the in person conference would have, but it was still incredibly wonderful.
The conference took place July 22nd through the 24th. I didn't get to attend all the events I wanted to due to the move, and like I said above, this post is a little late, but one of the whole reasons I made a blog was to keep track of my experiences at conferences I've been to.
Thursday morning, I started with the panel on grief. It was hosted by Kelli Dunham (she/they). The resources from their talk are listed on their website.
Kelli was absolutely wonderful to listen to. They managed to keep a conversation about grief at 10am lighthearted and serious. They started by asking the group the question "Why are you here?". Responses ranged from people losing loved ones, to the specific experiences of the trans/gnc community such as losing parts of your identity and missing out on experiences. From there, we talked about inaccurate depictions of grief in media and then talked about more accurate depictions of grief in media. We also talked about how we specifically experience grieve, how it's not a one time event, and how we can support each other when traumatic experiences occur. I was really impressed with how easily we talked about tough topics, especially at 10am. Some quotes that really stood out to me were
"Everything happens for a reason, but the reason is usually racism, sexism, classism, colonialism, or because someone is being a huge flaming asshole"
"The grief people feel when you come out as trans is interesting because they treat you like both the victim of a murder and also the murderer"
After the grief panel, I attended a restricted section regarding bottom surgery. It was people sharing their surgeries and experiences. Since this material was extremely personal and sensitive, it was restricted to transmasculine people attending for their own intents. While I cannot speak about the contents of the panel, I wanted to highlight the nature of restricted events and the steps in place to protect attendees and presenters.
The first fifteen minutes of the panel was spent going over the rules. After the rules had finished, the Zoom room was closed to new entrants. By staying for the duration of the rules and event, you consented to following the rules given and would face punishment if the rules were broken, such as, but not limited to, being removed and banned from the conference.
The rules were incredibly comprehensive and prioritized the safety and consent of the presenters. Most presenters were anonymous, and their anonymity was to be respected. There was no catcalling or screenshots allowed. Overall, respect the people presenting and what happens in the panel, stays in the panel. The other main aspect of the rules was the restricted nature of the event. The panel was restricted to transmasculine people attending for their own intents. You were not allowed to attend on behalf of someone else. Medical professionals were not allowed to attend for research or advertising purposes. Only people attending for their own knowledge to make informed decisions for their bodies. The other part of this was the transmasculine restriction. Transmasculine typically means someone who identifies with masculinity despite their gender assigned at birth. This typically includes transgender men and masculine nonbinary people. However, I respected how the presenter made a point to include people left out by this label that would still want surgery. This includes, but is not limited to, intersex people, nonbinary people, and two-spirit people.
I was very impressed with the measures put in place to protect those presenting and attending, in addition to the respect from those attending.
Saturday morning (my birthday) I attended a morning meditation for transgender and nonbinary people. It focused on connecting to ourselves and the world around us, which can be an added challenge for trans and nonbinary people who have dysphoria. The presenters started by acknowledging the roots of meditation and the land we're on. We talked about the cultures who started meditation and how they lost many of their practices due to colonization. We also talked about the land that we are situated on. The city of Philadelphia is currently sitting on land stolen from the Lenni Lenape people. They shared the following resource to learn what land you are living on: https://native-land.ca/. We talked about how the first steps in making reparations to the people whose land was stolen and lives were lost was to acknowledge the land lineage and ancestors.
After acknowledging our roots, lineage, and history, we took time to thank ourselves for attending the meditation and making time for self care. We started with a quick grounding meditation before talking more about our history. As mentioned before, meditation is not a new practice. It was started by ancient cultures. These ancient cultures also worshipped many entities. These entities had many genders beyond male and female. Due to colonization and Christianity, many of these sacred genders and practices were intentionally erased. I am absolutely heartbroken that all of my notes that I had taken during the panel were not saved. I wish I could have concrete examples here. The point was that trans people have always existed and have always had a place in the world. After that discussion, we moved onto a heart centered guided meditation. It was focused around appreciating ourselves and the people in our lives. The entire event was really wonderful.
I didn't talk about all the panels I attended, mostly just the ones that resonated the most with me. I was also really busy and didn't get a chance to fully involve myself as I would've wanted.
Despite the online environment, I was really impressed by how much they had to offer. I wish there were more wellness centered panels. This year focused much more on healthcare and surgery. I'm still really happy that I got to attend and got a lot out of it. I'm excited for next year to hopefully be in person again.
trans (adj) : Short for transgender. Used to described someone's gender that is different from the one assigned to them at birth
gnc (adj) : Short for Gender Non-Conforming. Someone who's gender identity and/or expression falls outside societal gender norms