Trans 101

Today was the first day of the transgender seminar here in Palmy, held at Te Manawa and hosted by the Human Rights Commission.

There were two sessions today, a morning session which featured a panel of trans folk from around the region, some from as far away as Hamilton and Rotorua (and one was a teacher at my old high school - Western Heights!!), and an afternoon session focusing on working with trans youth, creating safe spaces and accommodating their needs in existing organisations.

As I noted in my other post about the seminars here(http://liminald.blogspot.com/2009/03/assume-nothing-devinat-5-chaff-2009.html), I've actually been to the same workshops before, when they were held at The New Dowse in Upper Hutt last year. I came away from that experience with a huge respect for, and appreciation of, the trans folks who have been brave enough to front up publicly demanding fair treatment and equal rights. Some of those same people were at today's sessions, but there were a lot of new faces and again I was deeply moved by the sharing of personal histories and the positive, encouraging atmosphere of the occasion.

I met our local representatives for AGENDA and GenderBridge, which was great because they haven't had much involvement with MaLGRA and certainly not with UniQ, so we're going to get together to nut out some strategies for the university and the local queer community. I was also really pleased to see representatives of MaLGRA and YOSS, and even some lecturers from Massey attending. But I was perhaps most impressed to see some of my UniQ kids show up for the later session, I feel like I've been banging on about this for months and was disappointed when none of them showed up to the morning session. I know, I know.... students ;)

Tomorrow there is a session focusing on the Assume Nothing exhibition, also held at Te Manawa, which will feature talks from people actually in the artworks, followed by some performance art from local trans folk. I'll definitely be attending that, and my friend Amelia, she of the incredible talent for sculpture, will be joining me.

For now though, I'll have a nap and then try to make myself pretty(ish) to head out on the town, as my mate Melle is up from Wellington and staying with us for the weekend. I'll post more about tomorrow's shenanigans when once they're past.