World Professional Association for Transgender Health: Argentina: Part I

Buenos Aires

I am here at WPATH 2018 Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was not intending to go to this conference but I got elected to the USPATH Board of Directors, their subsidiary. Since we are going to have our first face-to-face meeting of the Board, I thought I should come. I was the only one who was not committed to be here. Plus, some of the presentations here will help with the new book I am writing. Working title is Handbook for Treating Transgender People but my publisher may have other ideas.

I went in girl mode through TSA for the first time on an international flight. I hope that my new breast implants and underwire showed up really well on the microwave scanner. Most everything that the airline and TSA said was wrong about TSA Pre-check. I reapplied several weeks ago and got a number from the TSA. It got me a shorter line but I still had to take off my shoes, jacket and take out my computer; all of which TSA said I would not have to do. I am not sure whether they pushed the pink button or the blue one but I got through without frisking. I think it was the pink one because when I go through in boy mode, they always want to fondle my breasts.

I cannot say that getting here was fun. A ten-hour flight due south from Atlanta. I did manage to engineer an exit row seat, so my legs had plenty of room. I only had 3 hours sleep the night before after packing and tidying up my apartment. It still took me 4 hours to get to sleep. Then they woke me up, just when I could have continued. Passport control took over an hour but customs took no time at all. Seems like all the incoming flights landed at once.

They are having 4 days of science presentations here, but as most people know, most of the best parts of a conference are usually to be found in the cocktail lounge. I managed to get misgendered there by the wait staff 3 times in a half an hour. You would think that a hotel hosting a conference including transgender people would instruct the staff on how to handle trans etiquette. I told one waiter twice and he still did not get it, or he was pretending to not understand English.

But then I was fresh from the plane with no makeup or pant suit. Since my room was not ready and they gave me a free drink ticket, I hung out in the cocktail lounge for a while. I am usually pretty introverted but this morning I was wired to talk after sleep loss, particularly after the first drink.

Met a couple from Switzerland. She does transgender genital plastic surgeries and he is a psychiatrist. I am not sure they believed all the things I was telling them about U.S. government changes favoring discrimination against trans people and changes in terminology. She thought that she was doing gender confirmation surgeries on transsexuals but I told her that now she was doing transgender gender plastic surgeries on transitioning transgender people and that her terms were now passé. They had not realized that MTF and FTM were passé and now it is transwoman and transman. It is amazing how the young trans people in the U.S. can change terminologies on the other side of the world. I chatted with the psychiatrist about the reported overlap between being transgender and the autism spectrum. We agreed that it could be a case of the university gender clinics accepting children who had multiple things going on.

Met two physicians from San Francisco who popped in for a drink between sessions of their advanced medical CEU course which started before the main conference. Also met a woman who was at least 6’ 6” with a German accent. She probably was trans but I never asked.

My room assignment finally came and I registered for the conference. I am now on a first name basis with the WPATH support contractor, after last year’s USPATH conference in L.A. when I needed a room to film an Advocate video. But next year, I will be on the committee for the USPATH science conference and will be charged with community relations.

Dana’s gown for the gala.

I will probably report more shop talk in the next post. The actual conference does not begin until this afternoon with a reception tonight. I will have to get spiffy for the reception; planning to wear my best skirt suit — the teal one. It is the one from my one-day modeling career, shown at near the bottom of this web page. Zuit Suit designed a skirt suit for me and later invited me to model it. Took professional makeup and hair people a couple of hours to make me look presentable. That was two years ago and my hair is much longer now. Saving my Kiyonna formal gown for Monday night when there is a gala. They tell me that the USPATH people will be assigned to a particular area of the reception hall tonight. Not sure how that will work out.

I was told by my friends to send pictures, so I went out early this morning when the light was good and got a few. Hope to get some “people” pictures later. No late-night tango parties yet for me. Still trying to rest up for them.

I feel a little strange here. All those MDs and mental health professional that make life or death or other decisions about the health of their patients. Then there are the academics who are dealing with academic freedom and political correctness and dean “teas.” Then there is the politics of WPATH which I am just beginning to understand. I have dealt with people from all of these areas in my past life but have yet to play the WPATH political game.

I am here because I feel a duty to transgender, transitioning transgender and crossdressers to help them deal with their problems and encourage their authenticity. They acquired their problems through no fault of their own. They could neither control their natal biology or the culture to into which they were born. If it takes wearing a ball gown or politicking or making scientific arguments, then so be it. And then, oh yes, I am one.

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Category: Transgender Community News