(Keynote speakers Martine Rothblatt and Jamison Green)

Mark your calendars !  The next Moving Trans* History Forward Symposium is taking place from March 17th to 20th 2016 . The Moving Trans History Forward Symposium is a gathering of Trans* and gender non-conforming (GNC) community-based scholars and activists, academics, family members, and allies of trans* and GNC people that focuses on preserving and recounting trans* and GNC histories. Occurring every two years, the symposium features presentations, panels, posters, grass-roots projects, art installations, workshops and , this year, a feature length Trans* themed film.  

Keynoting this years event will Martine Rothblatt and Jamison Green.   American lawyer, author, and entrepreneur Martine Rothblatt will deliver an address connecting transgender and transhumanist thought based on her books From Transgender to Transhuman and Virtually Human. Jamison Green, President of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), will speak on Triumphs and Challenges for Transgender People around the World.  Previous keynotes from 2014 include Viviane Namaste who spoke about transgender cabaret in Montreal in the mid twentieth century and Susan Stryker who announced the founding of the worlds first university-based transgender studies program.  If you are interested in more from the last conference you should check out the brand new youtube channel that the Transgender Archives have made available where you will find videos of few of the speakers from last year’s Founders Panel. The channel can be found HERE.

This event is being organized by Collaboratory member Aaron Devor and the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria.  Collaboratory members Nick Matte (University of Toronto), KJ Rawaon (College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts), Aaron Devor(University of Victoria) and Sara Davidman (University of the Arts London) all presented at the previous symposium in 2014.

The call for proposals for this years symposium was made available on Sept 30 and can be found HERE. Proposals can be concerned with any aspect of preserving and recounting the history of trans* and GNC people and communities and are due by Nov. 16th.