Seattle’s transgender conference helps families transition from fear to hope

Gender Odyssey, Seattle’s annual transgender conference, is in full swing with thousands of therapists, families, and advocates coming together in what is predicted to be the largest of the yearly conferences ever.

Diana Campbell is one of the lead volunteers who came down from Surrey, B.C. earlier this week. She’s been spending her days dealing with questions and fixing last minute planning catastrophes, but she knows the next few days will be even busier and so important for so many people.

Wednesday and Thursday, the focus of the conference is teaching professionals, therapists, doctors, and others about best practices when working with transgender people. It’s a vital sharing process that gives people tools to help the community for the rest of the year.

Campbell says a different kind of learning experience happens when the conference opens to families and everyone on Friday.

“If the people who come to this conference are transgender themselves, whether they’re considering transitioning, at the beginning of their transition, in the middle of that process, or already done, the contact with other people who are like them &#8212 particularly the kids &#8212 it’s amazing,” Campbell said.

Children as young as 4 years old are coming with their families to learn, according to Campbell.

“They come in concerned and afraid,” she said. “They don’t know how it’s going to go or who they’ll meet, but by the second or third day &#8212 when they’ve seen how accepted they are &#8212 they are just so full of themselves.”

Conference director Aidan Key agrees, saying the parents of those children also come away enlightened and relieved.

“They come and they move out of fear and into hope,” he said. “They’re all afraid for their kids &#8212 what kind of lives they might have. When they show up and see a thousand people having really amazing lives with families and careers, that is a really significant turning point.”

According to Key, so far this year, 180 children are registered to attend programs specialized just for them. That’s over twice the largest number of children who have come in the past.

Key says it’s clear Caitlyn Jenner is one reason more people are coming. The very, very public transition of the former world-famous athlete has created so much more visibility around transgender issues.

“In some ways, she’s really knocked the socks off the world because she represented the ideal of masculinity, Key said. “So to have someone like her say, ‘No, this is my issue as well,’ has really just caused everyone to wake up and question &#8212 which of course, I think is a fantastic thing.”

The conference lasts through Sunday. Check out genderdiversity.org for more information.