Moving Trans History Forward is a series of interdisciplinary, international, and intergenerational conferences held in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

, Canada, at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

, hosted by the Chair in Transgender Studies. The conferences discuss trans history and activism, and are both academic and open to the public. The conferences also explore new trans research and the issues that impact

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Sociology * Trans, a sociological term which may refer to: ** Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that di ...

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

Two-spirit ''Two-spirit'' (also known as ''two spirit'' or occasionally ''twospirited'', or abbreviated as ''2S'' or ''2E'', especially in Canada) is a umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people who fulfill a trad ...

, and other

gender nonconforming Gender nonconformity or gender variance is gender expression by an individual whose behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A person can be gender-nonconforming regardless of their gender identity ...

(GNC) people.

History

The biennial conference was founded and hosted by the University of Victoria's Chair in Transgender Studies and the founder and subject matter expert of the Transgender Archives,

Aaron Devor Aaron H. Devor is a Canadian sociologist and sexologist known for his work in transgender studies. Devor has taught at the University of Victoria since 1989 and is the former dean of graduate studies. He is the inaugural Chair in Transgender S ...

. Beginning in 2014, the conference has gathered community activists, researchers, educators, archivists, artists, service providers, and allies of all ages.

Past conferences

Moving Trans* History Forward (2014)

The first conference, held at the University of Victoria from March 21 to 23, 2014, was entitled "Moving Trans* History Forward". Around 100 trans activists and researchers, as well as allies, gathered to preserve and present the stories and records of trans pioneers from the early 1960s onwards. Events included keynote speakers

Jennifer Pritzker Jennifer Natalya Pritzker (born James Nicholas Pritzker; August 13, 1950) is an American investor, philanthropist, and member of the Pritzker family. Pritzker retired as a lieutenant colonel from the Illinois Army National Guard (ILARNG) in 20 ...

, Vivian Namaste,

Susan Stryker Susan O'Neal Stryker (born 1961) is an American professor, historian, author, filmmaker, and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Studies, former director of the Institute for LGBT St ...

, and

Dallas Denny Dallas Denny (born August 18, 1949 in Asheville, North Carolina) is a writer, editor, behavior analyst, and transgender rights activist. Education Denny holds the M.A. degree in psychology from The University of Tennessee and the B.S. degree in ...

; oral presentations, symposiums, displayed materials, and a featured screening of the film ''Trans.''

Moving Trans History Forward: Building Communities – Sharing Connections (2016)

The second conference, entitled "Moving Trans History Forward: Building Communities – Sharing Connections", took place at the University of Victoria from March 17 to 20, 2016. Events included keynote speakers

Jamison Green Jamison "James" Green (born November 8, 1948) is a prominent transgender rights activist, author, and educator focused on policy work. Green began living openly as a trans man in the late 1980s and is considered one of the few publicly open tra ...

and

Martine Rothblatt Martine Aliana Rothblatt is an American lawyer, author, and entrepreneur. Rothblatt graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with J.D. and M.B.A. degrees in 1981, then began to work in Washington, D.C., first in the field of communic ...

, oral presentations, posters, art exhibits, a screening of Mo Bradley's feature-length film ''

Two 4 One ''Two 4 One'' is a 2014 Canadian comedy-drama film"Two 4 One ...

'', and Founders Panel discussions with

Rupert Raj Rupert Raj (born 1952) is a Canadian transgender activist. He transitioned in 1971. His work since then has received several awards and he has included in the National Portrait Collection of The ArQuives. Life Raj was born in Ottawa, Ontario in ...

, Jason Cromwell,

Jamie Lee Hamilton Jamie Lee Hamilton (September 20, 1955 – December 23, 2019) was a Canadian political candidate and advocate of aboriginal people, residents of Vancouver's poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside, and sex workers. She was an independent candidate fo ...

, and Yvonne Cook-Riley.

Moving Trans History Forward: From Generation to Generation (2018)

The third conference, entitled "Moving Trans History Forward: From Generation to Generation", took place at the University of Victoria from March 22 to 25, 2018. Keynote speakers included

Andrea Jenkins Andrea Jenkins (born May 10, 1961) is an American politician, writer, performance artist, poet, and transgender activist. She is known for being the first Black openly transgender woman elected to public office in the United States, since Janua ...

, the first openly transgender Black woman elected to public office in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and

Kent Monkman Kent Monkman (born 13 November 1965) is a First Nations in Canada, First Nations artist of Cree ancestry. He is a member of the Fisher River Cree Nation, Fisher River nation situated in Manitoba's Interlake Region. Monkman lives and works betwe ...

, a Canadian

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Two-spirit artist. Among oral presentations, art displays, and workshops, there were both youth and elder panels, where speakers discussed topics relating to their respective age groups.

Moving Trans History Forward (2021)

The fourth iteration of the Moving Trans History Forward conference was held online, from March 11 to 14, 2021. The conference was initially scheduled to take place in Victoria, BC, from April 2 to 5, 2020, at the

Victoria Conference Centre The Victoria Conference Centre is a conference centre located in the downtown core of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In January 2008, the centre received a upgrade through the Canada-B.C. Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund, making it the se ...

but was moved online due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The first keynote speaker was Blas Radi, cofounder of the world's second Chair in Transgender Studies at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

. The second keynote speaker was Miss Major in conversation with Kelendria Nation and

Syrus Marcus Ware Syrus Marcus Ware is a Canadian artist, activist and scholar. He lives and works in Toronto, Ontario and is an assistant professor in the school of the arts at McMaster University. He has worked since 2014 as a faculty member and designer for th ...

. The program included oral presentations, panel discussions, and youth and elder panels.

Moving Trans History Forward (2023)

The fifth Moving Trans History Forward conference took place between March 30 and April 2, 2023 and was presented in a hybrid format, occurring both online and in person at the University of Victoria. On March 31, 2023, the conference coincided with

International Transgender Day of Visibility International Transgender Day of Visibility, often simply Trans Day of Visibility (often shortened online as TDOV), is an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people, ...

. Keynote speakers were author and activist

Julia Serano Julia Michelle Serano ( ; born 1967) is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, transgender and bisexual activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books, such as '' Whipping Girl'' (2007), ''Excluded'' (2013), a ...

; and

Chase Joynt Chase Joynt is a Canadian filmmaker, writer, video artist, actor, and professor. He attracted acclaim as co-director with Aisling Chin-Yee of the documentary film ''No Ordinary Man (film), No Ordinary Man'' (2020),Pat Mullen"Canada at Cannes: Docum ...

, Jen Richards, Morgan M Page, and

Jules Gill-Peterson Jules Gill-Peterson is a Canadian historian specializing in transgender history. She is an associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University. Her work focuses on how science, medicine, and race inform transgender embodiment. Her best-kn ...

from the film ''

Framing Agnes ''Framing Agnes'' is a 2022 Canadian documentary film, directed by Chase Joynt. An examination of transgender histories, the film centres on Joynt and a cast of transgender actors reenacting various case studies from Harold Garfinkel's work with ...

''. The conference included oral presentations, panel discussions, poster sessions, and workshops. The program included a Two-Spirit Trans+ Panel, a youth panel, and an elders panel.

References

{{reflist, 30em International conferences in Canada 21st-century conferences Transgender events