HBIGDA’s initial membership included no transsexual or transgendered members. They were simply not allowed. However, the organization, now called The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, has moved from a medical model of transsexualism to a transgender wellness model and transgendered and transsexual people are now fully integrated into membership and leadership positions.

Allowing admission to several people as representatives of the community will be a gesture of good will that will go a long way to improving relations with transgender populations at future symposia locations, will help educate those local populations about WPATH and the Standards of Care, and will hopefully prevent disruption of the symposia by protestors like the one at the 1997 symposium in Vancouver.

Late September saw three important conferences convening in Atlanta: The 21st annual Southern Comfort Conference , the 29th annual conference of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, and the 22nd International Symposium of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Southern Comfort’s theme was “Come of Age.” The theme of the WPATH symposium was “Transgender Beyond Disorder: Identity, Community, and Health.”

All three conventions were sizeable, with Southern Comfort arguably being the largest. At lunch on Friday the 23rd, I overheard SCC Conference Chair Alexis Dee tell another participant she expected attendance to top 1000, breaking previous records.

On Sunday the 25th SCC and WPATH hosted a joint symposium on transgender health issues. Earlier in the week leaders of WPATH and GLMA participated with Atlanta activists in a community town hall meeting at the Southern Comfort Conference. The town hall was moderated by Faughn Adams of Emory University and Anneliese Singh of Georgia Safe Schools Coalition.