Kate Bornstein, 60, a leading transgender activist, said identity is about living to your heart’s content while also respecting how others choose to identify themselves. (Photo by Casey Morgan)
Male? Female? Yes. No. Maybe. Transgender identities cross a fluid spectrum, causing confusion for some, freedom for others
This schedule includes some highlights of the annual Southern Comfort Conference. A marketplace and additional seminars and workshops also take place in many time slots.
Sept. 29
7 p.m. to 11 p.m. — Informal reception
Oct. 1
8 a.m. to noon — Registration
Oct. 2
9 a.m. – 6 p.m. — Robert Eads Health Project
9 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. — Seminar: Being Transgender on Campus
9 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. — Seminar: Transgender and Workplace, Learned Attributes
10:35 a.m. to noon — Gender Identity and Changing Discrimination Laws
5 p.m. to 6 p.m. — Newcomer’s reception
7 p.m. to 1 a.m. — Transmen’s welcome party
Oct. 3
9:30 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Career expo
10:35 a.m. to noon — Intersexed People
10:35 a.m. to noon — Female to Male Gender Reconstruction Surgery
2 p.m. to 3:25 p.m. — Trans People of Color
3:35 p.m. to 5 p.m. — Punk and Queer: Negotiations of Queer Identities as Members of Subcultures
3:35 p.m. to 5 p.m. — The Total Feminization Plan
3 p.m. to 6 p.m. — People of color reception
10:30 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. — “SOCO-A-GOGO” with live entertainment
Oct. 4
10:35 a.m. to noon — Kids of Trans panel
Noon -1:45 p.m. — lunch featuring speakers Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality; and Donna Rose, transgender activist
3 p.m. to 5 p.m. — NCTE Reception
5 p.m. – 6 p.m. — Screening of “Still Black,” a documentary of black transmen
8:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. — performance by Jade Esteban Estrada
Cole
Thaler
is
a
gay
man.
But,
he
explained,
he
was
“assigned
female
at
birth.”
Confused?
Many
people
who
fall
into
the
traditional
gender
binary
of
male
or
female,
including
gay
men
and
lesbians,
acknowledge
they
sometimes
can’t
quite
grasp
the
wide
variety
of
gender
identifications
included
in
the
so-called
“LGBT”
community.
Thaler,
31,
lives
in
Atlanta
and
serves
as
the
transgender
rights
attorney
for
Lambda
Legal.
He
said
he
understands
there
can
be
confusion,
but
the
best
way
to
understand
how
people
identify
is
to
accept
people
as
who
they
say
they
are.
Thaler
stressed
he
didn’t
have
the
“classic”
transgender
experience
people
hear
about,
where
a
person
knew
as
soon
as
they
could
think
that
they
were
born
in
the
wrong
body.
For
him,
and
others,
identifying
as
transgender
was
a
gradual
process.
“I
was
assigned
female
at
birth,
but
as
an
adult
I
felt
‘not
female,’”
he
said.
“But
I
was
unclear
how
to
be
my
true
self.
“When
I
came
out
as
transgender
in
law
school
[at
Northeastern
University
School
of
Law
in
Boston,
Mass.],
I
was
lucky
to
come
out
with
a
wide
range
of
identities
around
me
—
I
knew
there
were
large
numbers
and
space
between
or
beyond
the
binary,”
he
said.
“This
allowed
me
the
space
and
time
to
find
the
identity
that
was
right
for
me.”
Thaler
said
when
he
first
came
out
as
transgender,
he
identified
as
“genderqueer”
and
declined
to
take
on
a
male
or
female
identity.
But
after
he
graduated
and
entered
the
work
force,
people
began
identifying
him
as
male
and
he
started
thinking
and
functioning
as
a
man.
“This
started
solidifying
my
identity
as
a
male,”
he
said.
‘ENOUGH
BOXES’
Transgender
—
an
umbrella
term
for
people
who
don’t
fit
into
the
established
gender
roles
set
up
by
mainstream
society
—
is
often
the
word
used
to
describe
cross
dressers,
post-operative
transsexuals,
people
transitioning
from
male
to
female
and
those
transitioning
from
female
to
male.
And
then
there
are
so
many
others,
including
effeminate
gay
men
and
masculine
lesbians
who
may
not
actually
identify
as
transgender.
“Anyone
who
is
gender
variant
can
fit
under
the
transgender
umbrella,”
said
Cat
Turner,
business
manager
for
the
Southern
Comfort
Conference,
the
largest
transgender
conference
in
the
nation,
held
annually
in
Atlanta.
This
year’s
conference,
with
the
theme
“Celebrate
Life,”
is
set
for
Sept.
30-Oct.
5.
“I
firmly
believe
we
have
enough
boxes
to
start
with,”
said
Turner,
who
said
if
asked
to
pick
a
label,
then
genderqueer
is
the
“box”
to
check.
“A
lot
of
people
ask
my
friends,
‘What
is
Cat?’
And
they
say,
‘Cat’s
just
Cat.’
We
tend
in
this
society
to
put
people
on
a
specific
space
on
a
spectrum,
but
sometimes
I
wake
up
feeling
more
feminine
and
others
I
wake
up
feeling
more
masculine.
We
all
slide
along
this
scale.”
More
and
more
young
people
are
casting
aside
the
gender
binary,
Turner
added,
and
simply
identifying
as
queer
or
genderqueer.
By
taking
on
the
label
genderqueer,
they
don’t
specifically
identify
as
male
or
female.
“The
youth
…
are
not
concerned
with
trans,
gay,
straight,
bisexual
—
they
have
so
much
more
freedom
of
expression
than
when
I
was
their
age,”
Turner
said.
“Their
inner
being
is
so
strong,
they
demand
to
be
able
to
be
who
they
are.”
This
year’s
Southern
Comfort
Conference
includes
the
second
annual
Career
Expo,
numerous
workshops,
and
a
new
people
of
color
reception,
something
Turner
said
the
organization
has
been
working
on
for
awhile
as
more
black
transmen
come
out.
Turner
expects
close
to
1,000
to
attend
over
the
long
weekend
of
events;
the
conference
consistently
shows
that
nearly
40
percent
of
attendees
are
newcomers.
GENDERQUEER
REVOLUTION?
For
Atlantan
Jae
Cripe,
21,
genderqueer
is
a
label
mostly
taken
on
by
privileged
people
in
academic
settings.
“A
lot
of
my
peers
identify
as
genderqueer,
but
what
I’ve
observed
is
that
many
who
do
[identify
as
genderqueer]
come
from
colleges
and
live
a
very
privileged
life.
This
term
comes
out
from
people
immersed
in
academics
where
they
have
access
to
that
language
and
theory,”
he
said,
but
noted
not
all
genderqueer
people
come
from
such
a
background.
After
experimenting
with
how
to
label
his
identity,
such
as
genderqueer,
Cripe
realized
he
is
simply
a
young
man.
“I
have
a
binary
identity,
my
gender
is
a
man.
But
my
sexuality
is
queer,”
he
said.
Cripe
grew
up
a
“very
unusual
girl”
and
came
out
as
transgender
at
16
after
meeting
another
trans
person
and
realizing
this
is
where
his
identity
best
fit.
“I
used
to
go
by
‘tranny
boi,’
but
those
words
make
it
like
my
gender
...
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