The First International Transgender Rights Conference - Geneva

Now....the moment I've been waiting for. The reason of my presence in the city of Geneva. The very historic moment in the history of transgender/transsexual movement across the globe - The First Transgender Rights Conference! It was attended by different people from all over the world - from Asia & the Pacific Islands to Latin America, from North America to the European Nations, from Africa to the Carribean Islands. Together, trans-identified human rights activists and non-transgendered people who are interested in advancing the rights of transgendered people gathered on a beautiful Monday at the Centre de conférences de Varembé (CCV). Though coming from different cultures and speaking different languages, these courageous men and women of transgendered experience meet for the very first time with one thing in mind - to have an international platform for change. And I was there.

Armand Hotimsky, Founder & President of Centre d'Aide, de Recherche et d'Information sur la Transsexualité et l'Identité de Genre (CARITIG-France), organized this monumental event. The conference started at around 9:30 AM.

Armand welcomed all the participants and gave preliminary instructions to them - such as where to get the headsets to hear the simultaneous translation of what will transpire into different languages.

After that, Armand then gave the floor to me as he requested me to moderate the first plenary session of the conference - The global futurs of transsexual, transgender and other gender variant people. This panel sought to present a panoramic overview of transgender issue in six different regions of the world.

It was such an honor to moderate the opening plenary session as it had those people who had inspired my activism and the person I have worked in coming up the first research on transgendered women in the Philippines. This panel is made up of five individuals. It was started by Miss Lohana Berkins of Argentina. She is a very outspoken activist who I have first encountered in the country reports of Amnesty International when I was still volunteer in its Philippine Section. Miss Berkins presented an overview of the situation in Latin America of travestis - their localized version of transgendered woman. It's sad that I wasn't able to talk with her as she only speaks her native language - Spanish.

After her was Dr. Sam Winter of the University of Hong Kong and Centre Director of TransgenderASIA Research Centre - a person I personally know and to whom I was an Assistant Researcher to for the first comprehensive research on Filipina women of transgendered experience. Dr. Winter presented an overview of the situation in many countries in Asia and declared that transsexualism should not be considered a mental illness and it must be taken out from APA DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic of Statistcal Manual IV) and the ICD-10 (International Classification of Disorders Version 10 of the World Health Organization). Ms. Eva Fels of TransX Austria and one of the convenors of the European TG Council shared the experiences of transgendered people in Europe.


from left to right: Dr. Sam Winter, Eva Fels, James Green, & Brad Salavich

The internationally renowned FTM activist James Green then presented the situation in the United States. It was an honor seeing James again in person (the first was in Sydney Gay Games in 2002). I e-mailed him when I was 18 asking advice on how to go on with my activism.


from left to right: James Green & Brad Salavich

Brad Salavich, Director of the World Diversity Program of IBM, presented the wonderful opportunities that his company is doing for transgendered people AROUND the globe. Not only that IBM has a global non-discrimination policy on grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity & expression but it is also responsive to the medical needs of people with transsexualism.

The second plenary session was all about the major evolutions in legal issues for transgendered people and what still needs to be done. It was moderated by Chris Sidoti (ISHR-International Service for Human Rights, Switzerland). The panel was composed of Robyn Emerton (China/Hong Kong), Rachael Wallbank (Lawyer - Australia), Dr Tamara Adrian (University of Caracas - Venezuela) and Dr Stephen Whittle (University of Manchester - UK). I find Ms. Wallbanks as particularly striking. She is the lawyer who represented the Applicants in the case Kevin and Jennifer v The Attorney General for the Commonwealth, in which her client were successful in obtaining a declaration of Australian law to confirm the marriage between a man of transsexual background and his wife to be a legally valid marriage.


Rachel Wallbanks in her presentation "HUMAN RIGHTS and DIVERSITY IN SEXUAL FORMATION AND EXPRESSION"

Wallbanks treats transsexualism as an example of human diversity in sexual formation in which an individual experiences a critical discordance between the individual’s sexually differentiated body (eg body parts such as genitalia) and sexually differentiated mind (brain sex). It is a bold move from transsexualism as a psychiatric condition into a somatic one and putting it in the same level as intersexed condition. She went on demonstrating the diversity in sexual formation from the chromosomal level and the genital level in which the assignment of sex at birth operates upon. And in the difficulty of finally defining what's male and female, Wallbanks quoted Dr Eric Vilain, paediatrician, Chief of Medical Genetics at the University of California USA. The quote says that “Recent advances in the field of the genetics of sexual development have shown the extreme complexity of defining males and females from a biological standpoint. There is no one biological parameter that clearly defines sex. The second point is that there are differences between male and female brains very early in development. This suggests that the sexualization of the brain happens very early during embryonic life. The last point is that significant minorities of individuals are left out of simple civil rights because they don’t fit established categories of sex.”


Mariela Castro on her presentation

The third plenary session of the conference was all about the impact of the relationship between health professionals and transgendered persons. The plenary explores if the psychiatric diagnosis a good tool to help transgendered people and the most prevalent medical issues for transgendered persons. The panel was moderated by Dr. Erika Volkmar and was composed of Mariela Castro Espin (niece of Fidel Castro and Director of Cenesex - Cuba), Dr Sahika Yuksel (University of Istanbul - Turkey), Dr Norman Spack (Children's Hospital Boston – USA), Dr Donna Higgins, (World Health Organization, HIV department) and Adriane Martin Hilber, (World Health Organization, Reproductive department).

After the medical session, we then went on to dividing ourselves into five working groups. The working groups would discuss amongst themselves and develop several key points from the thematic themes assigned to them. And these several key points would then be developed into an international declaration of transgender people's rights which will be presented to the UN. Because of lack of time (well you can't just have a day for such a task), the keypoints were just presented and the drafting of the declaration would just be made and be presented through e-mail to the participants for final approval.

I chose to become a member of the working group on the "Right to Human Rights Education on Transgender Rights". The group was moderated by Rachael Wallbank and was participated by 14 individuals coming from different countries. They were Joey fro Tonga, Cui & Bin from China, Anny from Kyrgyztan, Sulay from Malaysia, Sass from Philippines, Terry from the UK, Jo Bernardo from Portugal, James Green USA, Elizabeth from Denmark, A guy from Switzerland, Rachel from Australia, Aung Myo Min from Burma. The group assigned me to become the notetaker and the presenter of the keypoints in the plenary session that happened after the working groups sessions.


during the presentation of the key points

There were seven key points that we have come up to during our working group discussion. We proposed to the plenary that whatever propositions that would be developed through the key points, they should be packaged through the lines of human diversity and the right to information - moving the discussion from human sexuality to human diversity.

These are the seven key points that our group reached:

1. The right to education.
2. The right to be educated.
3. The right to know diversity in sexual formation and gender expression in a positive light.
4. The right to know ourselves without shame.
5. The right to hear and see our stories told without shame.
6. The right to tell our stories of human diversity to ourselves and the world without fear.
7. The right to relevant and competent health education.

After the conference we head straight to Dialogai at 13 rue de la Navigation for the Dinner and the party. We danced, danced, and danced.




Me with the Brazilian delegates

I know that one day I would look back to this and will feel surely proud. I know that one day the international platform that we have created would be a strong foundation to stage a global trans movement. A strong and courageous movement of committed and dedicated trans women and men. And I was part of this. And I am part of this. And I will always be part of this.

Welcome to the age of diversity!