UVic hosts Trans history conference during Transgender Day of Visibility

Boston Children's Hospital, which calls itself "home to the first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program in the United States," says it has faced a "large volume" of threats of violence for offering that kind of care. (Credit: Shutterstock)

The University of Victoria is playing host to the "Moving Trans History Forward" conference, which launched on March 30 and will run until April 2, coinciding with International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31.

The fifth bi-annual conference will bring to together more that 400 people from 20 countries to discuss the past, present and future of Trans+ people.

Open to the public by donation, the conference is both in-person and online to allow international Trans+ activists, academics, students, artists and allies to attend.

"The conference is about bringing people together," said Aaron Devor, Transgender Studies chair at the University of Victoria.

"The majority of the people who attend our conference are Trans+ people," he said.

"It’s a very rare occasion when Trans+ people get to be in a space for that many days and hours where they are in the majority."

Devor, who is the world’s first and only chair in Transgender Studies, says this allows for freer speech and for ideas to be explored more widely.

He says the conference and International Transgender Day of Visibility are significant for empowering Trans+ people and their allies.

"Trans+ people are able to stand up with their allies and make themselves known and feel good about who they are," said Devor over the lunchbreak of the conference on Friday.

"It’s important for Trans+ people to find each other and to be able to explore across a vast array of topics and ideas."

"UVic is home to the world’s largest Transgender Archives, which represents 17 countries on six continents, more than 130 years of research and over 60 years of activism," the conference said in a release.

"In January 2016, the university also established the world’s first and only chair in Transgender Studies."