My Story Part 107 – True Colors Conference

Those of you who are around here in Connecticut or have been following my blog probably know about True Colors, a LGBT family and youth agency that every year holds a conference. This year will be their 19th annual conference. I had the privilege to intern with them last year and this year I will be giving a workshop at the conference.

I first attend the back when it was held at the University of Hartford and was called “The Children From the Shadows” in 2002 and I wrote in my diary…

The conference was excellent! I had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it.

So a little after seven in the morning on Friday March 22, MA stopped by my house and we went off to the “Children from the Shadows.” I only had a vague idea what the conference would be like, but when we got to the University of Hartford where the conference was being held the parking lot was starting to fill up. There were a number of school buses and cars in the parking lot already, with lines forming at the registration desk. We went in and set up the table [I volunteered to help out at the Connecticut Outreach Society’s table] and before we got settled in people were already stopping by the table. From then on it was none stop people. Some just walked by and glanced at our table, some took our flyers and other stopped and talked to us. They were interested in where to get support, not for themselves but for their students. Most of the people who stopped and talked were faculty advisors or guidance counselors. I would estimate that over all percentage of students to professionals to be about 85 percent students to around 15 percent faculty and professionals.

Last year as part of my intern duties I coordinated the vendor tables and I was at the conference from dawn to sunset both Friday and Saturday. To organize a conference the sizes of the True Colors conference takes a small army of interns and volunteers all semester to organize. From around 9 AM on Friday until 5 PM on Saturday almost 3000 people attended the conference.

This year I am presenting a workshop on Saturday March 17 at 10:30 called "Transgender Activist History: From World War II to the Presents"

The workshop will look at transgender activist from World War II until the present. It will cover the history of the movement and notable transgender activists such as Sylvia Rivera, Dallas Denny, Virginia Prince and Christine Jorgensen. In addition, the workshop will look at the Stonewall Uprising from a trans-perspective and will cover legislative victories, defeats and betrayals, both locally and nationally.

If you would like to attend the conference you can register or find out more information, go here.