Southern Comfort Conference — One Girl’s Adventure

Part 1 – Getting There is Half the Fun

Well, dear readers, are there any among you who have not heard of the Southern Comfort Conference? (Seeing no hands go up) I thought not. My Florida friends refer to this mega-gathering of the TG community in Atlanta every September simply as ‘SCC’. My Canadian friends say ‘Southern Comfort’. In either case they are referring to about a thousand of the luckiest people connected to the TG community — lucky because they are there. I am unlucky because Southern Comfort coincides with the birthday celebration of my family’s matriarch. As long as she is alive my plans to cross SCC off my bucket list are on hold.

So I depend heavily on the accounts of others to get my SCC fix. This year I noticed something very strange. Before the conference and while monitoring a couple of tg yahoo groups in Florida the lucky conference goers, particularly Darlene in Orlando and Roni in Tampa were filing numerous messages about how they would be traveling, where they would be staying and the fun they would be having. This flood of messages lasted right up to the first hours of SCC and then SILENCE! There were no more messages about SCC. It was as if there was a code of silence imposed. What happened in Atlanta stayed in Atlanta.

It wasn’t until a few days after the conference that I got at least one person’s version of her time at SCC. My friend Leah attends a number of the big TG events to meet up with a close circle of friends. I told you about her adventures in June at the Be-All Conference in Chicago. She had just attended SCC for the sixth time. She phoned me with a request for help to write her account of the conference, her ‘blog’ so to speak.

Barely had I picked up the phone and said hello when I heard Leah’s Hispanic accent start at a very fast pace, “I can’t believe it,” she said, “another year at the Southern Comfort Conference has come and gone. How does time work? It seems to go so slowly in anticipation of the annual trip to Atlanta then it seems to fly by while I am there.”

Linda: Hi Leah, how are you?

Leah

Leah: Fine. For months I’d been looking forward to seeing my good friends from across the country, to us going out to the fine restaurant we enjoy, to seeing other girls from Florida and even to the presentation I had agreed to give. I had such a great time. I want to write about it. Can you help me?

Linda: Sure. (I knew I’d never be able to catch everything she was going to say as fast as she was going to say it so I continued) Just start talking and I’ll record our conversation and see what we can do. How did things go? The last I heard you were going to drive up to Atlanta as Leah.

Leah: That’s right. My wife helped me decide to do that. She said if I wanted to be Leah I should do it 100%, with no chance of any bailout, not even take any boy clothes.

Linda: She wasn’t using some reverse psychology there?

Leah: What do you mean?

Linda: Well some women think that if their partners learn how tough it is to be a woman, getting ready for the day, putting on make-up, worrying about whether this blouse matches that skirt etc. the partner will give up his obsession.

Leah: Not in this case. She just loves to see me happy. But first I had to get to Atlanta. Because of the amount of luggage I wanted to take — a girl has to have plenty of outfits just in case — I was going to travel by car and I would not take any boy clothes at all. That takes me up the Florida Turnpike and I-75 right through the heart of rural Florida and Georgia, not places known for their liberal attitudes. I did not bring a single piece of male clothing, so there was no escape! Honestly I was concerned with the bathroom stops along the way in the middle of the Bible belt and being alone.

Linda: I guess so. That must be about an 8 hour drive from your place to Atlanta. How were you going to eat and yes, go to the bathroom?

Leah: I did it in seven. My apprehensions were unfounded as everything went well. My wife and I had made up a lunch and some snacks so I wouldn’t have to use a restaurant.

Linda: And the bathrooms?

Leah: Without a glitch, I even had conversations with ladies in the restroom; something that always happens. Good thing that I had been working on my voice, it came in handy. I don’t know if I passed but at least they accepted me as one of their own.

Linda: I can just see you cruising up I-75 wearing a mini-skirt and high heels and your patent low cut blouse. Did you give any truckers a beaver shot?

Leah: What do you mean? I’ve learned from you to dress down for my trips, a Tee shirt, jeans and flip flops. My makeup was very light, no false eyelashes and light lip gloss. My thinking is that since I am tall I wasn’t going to make myself look taller by wearing any heels.

Linda: That’s my girl. But I have another theory as to why those women in the restroom accepted you.

Leah: What’s that?

Linda: As soon as you said ‘hello’ they would have spotted your Hispanic accent. Now you are almost six feet tall. They probably would have never seen a Hispanic woman over 5’ 2”. They said to themselves, ‘this must be a Cuban basketball or volleyball player who’s defected. Let’s be nice to her.’

Leah: Ha-ha. I don’t think you should stereotype Hispanic women like that.

Linda: Of course you are right but weren’t you worried about confrontation?

Leah: Well last year a wise Canadian t-girl told me what she had learned from the animal kingdom. She said others will take their cues from you. If you act defensive and frightened in front of an animal it will take an aggressive stance toward you; if you act outgoing and confident it will back off. So I used that principle with the women of Florida and Georgia.

Linda: Well yes but remember if you catch the animal by surprise or protecting its young all bets are off.

Leah: So I just walked in to the Ladies’ rooms with a big smile and a hello and that’s what I got in return. You’d be surprised how chatty women are in the rest room.

Linda: Can you imagine a guy even saying hello to another guy in a Men’s room? But Leah it’s not like you to not have at least one adventure.

Leah: Not until I got to what I thought was my hotel in Atlanta. I asked a bellman to help unload my car while I got out the reservation confirmation. That’s when I saw I had plugged in the wrong hotel in to my GPS. I’d used the sheet from an old reservation when I’d gone to Atlanta last spring. I told the bellman to stop while I called home for the correct information. My wife wasn’t there so I called Darlene who was already checked in to the right hotel. She gave me the right address and I put it in the GPS while the bellman re-loaded my car.

Linda: I hope he got a nice tip for his trouble.

Leah: He did. I checked into the right hotel, where the bellman brought all my bags to my room. These guys are good at putting everything in one cart. My cart looked like the Beverly Hillbillies’ truck, loaded with all their worldly possessions.

Linda: Were you perched on top like Granny Clampett?

Leah: (Ignoring the question) I didn’t even take the time to change. I went to see Gina, my friend from New Jersey. She had my favorite drink ready for me. Oh my, after so many hours of driving a Dirty Vodka Martini was just what the doctor ordered. We hugged each other and chatted about our journeys, lives and new developments. We hadn’t seen each other in so long. It had been almost four months since the ‘Be All’ in Chicago. It was then that I felt I’d truly arrived in Atlanta.

Next: A week at SCC: Friends and Fashion

Tags: conference, featured, Southern Comfort

Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Fun & Entertainment