The 14th-annual Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference will pack the Pennsylvania Convention Center for three full days of educational and empowering trans-focused programming.
Presented by the Mazzoni Center, PTHC will run June 4-6 at the Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets. The event is free but registration is required. Schedule highlights include non-traditional classroom-style workshops (in English and Spanish), a Latino resource village and new youth-specific programs.
Workshop titles include: Non-Binary Talk: Let’s Make Friends; Empowering Trans Older Adults to Protect their Rights; Safe Schools for Trans Students; PrEP Talk; Changing Your Identity Documents and much more. For a complete schedule, visit www.trans-health.org.
This year’s theme, “Cultural Competency/Cultural Humility,” was designed by the planning committee to ensure the event was responsive to the diverse needs of its attendees.
“We have a lot of workshops this year that are specifically tailored to the needs of our attendees,” said conference coordinator Samantha Jo Dato. “We also took steps to ensure that our programming was culturally competent and mindful of everyone’s needs and requirements.”
Dato said an extensive overhaul was made to the event to make it more handicapped-accessible, ASL-inclusive and as bilingual as possible. Inclusive spaces were also specifically created for people of color and young people.
“We really wanted to make the youth feel welcome,” Dato said. “They are the next generation of leaders and we need to give them a platform, and some insight and training into how this all works.”
Pennsylvania Youth Congress deputy director Turner Stulting and Harrisburg Area Community College sophomore Peter Fair will both deliver keynote addresses. They will be joined by GLAAD spokesperson Tiq Milan, who will give the opening keynote 1 p.m. June 4, and Navaja Nation tribal member Trude Jackson, who will deliver a keynote at 1 p.m. June 5.
Another change is the addition of the opening-night reception, 7:30 p.m. June 4 at William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St.
“In our attempt to have a better-quality schedule, we removed some of the other evening events we’ve had in the past and added the opening-night reception,” Dato said. “We wanted to keep the focus on what we do best, but I think the reception will be fun for everyone.”
Dato said that PTHC is expecting approximately 5,000 attendees, which would make it the largest in the event’s history.
“We have already exceeded pre-registration numbers compared to last year,” Dato said.
To register for the conference and for more information, visit www.trans-health.org.