What a Panel!

Tonight’s panel at Trans Issues Week at Yale was really great. It’s hard to explain, but for me – 90% of what makes a good panel is articulate, interesting people. Granted, I get the difficult job of picking those people – which is not always easy – but tonight it really all came together. I don’t think there was an aspect of body modification vis a vis trans identity that we didn’t get into, or talk about in an interesting, personal way.
My thanks to you all: Tom, Evan, Maggie, Betty, Donna, Alexandra – and my last-minute saving grace, Rachel.
And thanks too to Loren, who has done such a great job with creating & building the conference over the past few years (and who graduates this spring).
Tonight, I guess, was one of those times I was really struck by how remarkable trans folks can be. Rachel got my email *today* and said yes, and showed up, and was charming and funny. (My favorite comment of the night was her shorthand for a labiaplasty being, “and then they make it pretty.”)
Really, thank you all for making my job so much easier than it might have been, but more than that, for being willing to put yourselves on the line to make the world a little easier for other trans folks down the line. My only regret is that the event wasn’t taped.
It is truly an honor to be a part of this community.