Hey ya'll (gettin' my Atlanta/southern accent on), it's Lance!
Fair warning, I am completely drained so some of this may not make the most sense, but I am making a genuine attempt.
I just want to update on where I am right now both personally and with the conference. Today I didn't do entirely what I planned on doing, but ended up having some incredibly informational, important, emotional conversations. I went to two workshops today, one being on the dynamic that is created between people that come out to their family (particularly trans* identified folks) and those family members that are also going through that experience. I was particularly effected by the fact that the transman that spoke on this topic was a person of color. I have had multiple dialogues revolving around the QPOC community and appreciate not only a trans* perspective but a person of color perspective. This really hit home for me because my family has yet to truly understand or speak about my identity, and that lack of conversation can be triggering to me. I've come away from that experience with great, new resources on how to speak to and influence my family's understanding regarding my identity.
I also went to a workshop on ex-gay therapy, conversion therapy, etc. (whatever word you may use for this experience) which was run by someone that I had previously met and truly connected to. It was hard to recognize that these situations still exist and that too few people are bothering to speak about them.
Furthermore, I feel that the conference has furthered the emotional connections I have already established with the people that I am here with. I have spoken with each person that has joined us on this journey and we each agree that we are closer for having gone through this together.
Overall, I feel empowered, important and ready to come back to Chicago and create change.