First Event 2014, January 22-26, Boston

by Stacey Carla, First Event Committee

First Event, held every January, is the only major transgender conference in mid-winter — literally the first event each year. Attendance has been growing in recent years — being indoors when it is likely to be snowing out turns out to be good for a transgender conference!  Such gatherings are all about getting out and meeting people in a safe, non-threatening, not-too-public environment. First Event seems to hit that sweet spot nicely.

Held in the Peabody Marriott just north of Boston, the hotel is just the right size so that First Event pretty much fills the place. Outsiders are not excluded, but are certainly a small minority while we are there. It is a blast to be with so many in the gender community. We are a strong majority for once and that is both safe and fun, even for newbies. It may be cold outside, but that makes being warm and indoors among our friends even better!

We on the First Event 2014 Committee have been hard at work planning an conference we hope will be better than ever this year. In addition to long-time favorite events like the fabulous Fashion Show, an expanded Day of Wellness and Beauty, Partners in Process support for significant others, Tiffany’s Closet with great fashion deals, and Nightly Dancing with DJ Greg, we are excited about many new changes:

We will be providing limited Bus Transportation to and from Boston, as well as a local shuttle service. Details are still being arranged, but we plan to provide buses for morning pickup in downtown Boston and at the Salem Commuter Rail station and the Northshore Mall.

On Thursday night you will be transported to the nearby Peabody Essex Museum for our Evening of Elegance — a night of glamour, glitz, and gaiety hosted by the fabulous Gigi Gill, with cocktails, fine food, and music. On Friday afternoon before the traditional First Event Fashion Show, why not do a little shopping at the Northshore Mall — we’ll whisk you over for a store sponsored shopping spree! At the Saturday Banquet, our Keynote Speaker will be Mara Keisling, founding Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. After hearing from her, lights will dim for dessert, transporting us to the “First Event Jazz Club”, new for 2014. We plan an intimate cabaret featuring Dale LePage and the Manhattans, a seven-piece ensemble influenced by greats like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, as well as works from artists as diverse as Ryan Adams and Elton John.

It has been a tradition to give First Event a new “subtitle” each year. The funny and poignant 2014 theme is “Who do you want to be when you grow up?”

In keeping that theme, there will be a brand-new Youth and Family Track, geared towards trans* youth, families, or parents. In addition to lots of wonderful workshops centered on youth and families, there will also be evening activities for all age groups.

Why else did we choose a theme about growing up this year? Being transgender is often compared to a journey, an odyssey toward better aligning our lives and outward presentation with our inner self-perceived identity, a quest to match our inner selves with external reality. Being transgender often means a second childhood, relearning where we fit in the world along with new skills necessary for our future. Our journey is the often halting exploration of new possibilities with the daunting challenges of youth. Many of us are not at all young in years, but we are all young in spirit, young in our curiosity, young in our aspirations and expectations, yearning to “grow up” to become better, more effective and happier adults.

Many of us even go through some of the same real phases experienced by any child, the same questionable enthusiasms, the same questionable dress, the same questionable relationships, the works. I for one seem hell bent to dress like I’m 19 even if that happened four decades ago. And if I cannot be 19, then 29 or 39 will do. Would you believe 49? My daughter keeps asking me to use a grey wig and look my age. I have news for her and I think most of us can sympathize. We never got the chance to look and be ourselves at age 19 and now we deserve a second chance. We deserve a second youth, however fleeting and incongruous. We want and need the chance to grow up a second time, making new choices for our lives.

First Event can be an important resource for “growing up” our transgendered selves. Like children and for a few short days, we play new games, learn new skills, make new friends, and dream a better future for ourselves. We gather with our peers to compare and learn, to explore and grow.

My favorite author, Ursula LeGuin, has my all time favorite quote in her humanistic sci-fi novel, The Left Hand of Darkness. “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” I think she illustrates the peril of dreams, transgender or otherwise. We need the process of growing up, the process of becoming more comfortable with ourselves, the process of integrating our perceived gender with the real world. We need all that much more than the end of finishing transition. A road that ends leaves us nowhere to go. Instead, plan to grow up but never quite get there. Stay young and enjoy the journey as slowly as you like. May you never quite reach the end.

Tags: conference, featured, First Event, TG conference, Transgender

Category: Transgender Community News