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I met some people new at lunch and an old friend. That is one thing nice about the fair is that you meet so many new people, for some this is there first time out and they are in seventh heaven.
The keynote address today was by Carolyn Wolf-Gould, MD whose talk was about the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH) Standard of Care Version 8. I learned a lot about the new version and it seems not to be as bad as some make it out to be, but thing I have to say about it, it is long. 260 pages!
One scary thing the doctor pointed out was that Florida is writing their own standard of care!!!!
This is from the Florida ACLU,
In June, Gov. DeSantis said that Medicaid should no longer cover gender-affirming healthcare for transgender Floridians. Today, we’re exposing the harm and impact that both this new rule from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and a potential change by the Florida Board of Medicine to the standards of care for gender-affirming treatment would have on transgender Floridians’ ability to access essential and life-saving healthcare. Read the headline from CBS News here: Florida moves forward on denying transgender treatments.
[…]
At a press conference June 2, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that Florida should deny Medicaid coverage for treatments such as puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy for transgender people. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), which runs most of Florida’s Medicaid program, then proposed a rule that would deny coverage for all medically-necessary gender-affirming care for Medicaid recipients. That proposed rule was subsequently adopted by AHCA and went into effect on August 21, 2022.
The AHCA adopted the discriminatory Medicaid exclusion despite the evidence-based guidance from medical experts and medical associations supporting gender-affirming care. All major medical associations accept these standards of care. Medical providers have safely used these medications and treatment methods for decades for many medical conditions, including gender dysphoria. The drastic changes to Medicaid coverage are a baseless attack on lifesaving medical care in violation of federal law.
They are thumbing their nose at all the established medical associations, you know that this will end up on the door steps of the Supreme Court and it will be anybody’s guest how the court will rule.
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I was just starting out attending the peer support group the Connecticut Outreach Society and at a September meeting on 2000 someone mentioned this conference on Cape Cod called Fantasia Fair... Hmm. This sounds interesting.
From my diary:
August 12th
...Second, and this is the real big one. I’m going to the Fantasia Fair week in Provincetown MA. I’m going for six days and I’m going with T, we are going to stay at B & B that she knows. There are going to be others COS members up there, but mainly for the weekend. B and S are going to give a talk on CD’s and their spouses, also host a lunch on Friday. I have to go and heckle them, should be fun.
Tuesday Oct 17, 2000
Feeling good (A little to many rum & cokes) had a great time. We arrived around two o’clock and move into our room. We then went down into town to have lunch at the “Stormy Harbor” [Now it is gone and another restaurant has filled it space.]. It was a trip to watch the tourist watching us. I was very nervous at first but I got over it and started to enjoy myself. After lunch we went to the Provincetown Reservations to sign up for the weeks entertainment. We signed up for all of the evening shows and the Banquet on Saturday night. We then walked around town and checked out the stores. It was fun watching the tourist when they figured out that we were guys, the expressions that they had on their faces. They were mostly seniors who came in for the day on busses.
[...]
We went to the fashion show that night at the Vixen. On the way to the show it poured, I was dressed in a skirt and twin set, lucky I had an umbrella. This time the show lasted longer then the cabaret. J and her friends were thereafter the show and we hung around the bar for a while. T meet some of her friends from last year. We left around midnight.
Back in the day when midnight was just another hour on the clock, Now I'm lucky to make it past 9.
For dinner we all went to the Governor Bradford and had a nice meal. For dinner we all went to the Governor Bradford and had a nice meal.
After dinner we walked to the Universalist Church for a concert. It was a piano and cello concert and the pianist is well renown and teaches at the New York University School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music and has presented master classes at the Boston and Peabody Conservatories. She is also a transsexual. After the concert we went to the Vixen for cocktails.
Also back then I could drink more than I do now... age is catching up on me.
Friday
We had dinner at the “Lobster Pot”. It was crowded but the food was very good, I had Lobster Newburg. On the way out two couples were coming in, when the guys saw us they stopped in their tracks and their jaws just about hit the ground.
The Follies were good except for the sound system. B and S and J did a number called “If You Read My Mind”, they brought the house to a standing ovation. In the second act B and S did the closing number “Love Can Build a Bridge”.
Saturday
The Banquet was so so, they gave out a lot of awards to people who worked on Fantasia Fair. B and S and J were there with their friends from the fair staff. After dinner we went over to Roomers for a little while, Roomers is Guest House. T went off to another place and stayed for a while, then went back to the room. At Roomers I met a couple from around Connecticut area. It will have been nice if I found the place earlier, it was a quite place to sit around and talk. No smoking or loud music.
Sunday
All good thing must come to an end. We packed up, had breakfast, said our good-byes and headed back to Connecticut. I had an excellent time. Would I go back, YES.
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October 28th
It has been six days since the Fantasia Fair. Some thoughts on the week, it was hard, well not hard but different, going back to work. I was walking down the hall at work when somebody called “Diana”, for one of our secretaries, I almost stopped and replied. Also, up in P’town I got use to carrying a pocketbook, now I start to look for it when I get up. It was total girl mode, the only male thing that I did was shave. You get deeper girl mode and it does effect your psyche. I liked it.
A lot has changed, a lot has stayed the same.
2022 Fantasia Fair (Trans Week)
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