By: Alex Iantaffi, AASECT Institute Program Chair
The AASECT Virtual Institute occurred on March 15, 2024, and I was incredibly pleased to see over a hundred people in attendance! While the high number of attendees is certainly to be celebrated, I want to spend a little time reflecting on why this Institute was so special for me and, I believe, many other AASECT members. Since 2020 we have been witnessing a rise in anti-trans legislation across Turtle Island and beyond. This year alone, in just over three months, 539 anti-trans bills have been introduced across 41 states, 21 have already passed (see this website if you would like to track these numbers: https://translegislation.com/).
The latter might not seem like a high number to some of you, yet to many of us trans, nonbinary, gender expansive, Two-Spirit &/or Indigiqueer people, this means that our lives, families and healthcare are at risk, depending on the state we live in. This is one of the reasons why having an AASECT Virtual Institute on “Cultivating Trans Thriving: Tools for Gender Liberation in Practice” felt more significant and urgent than ever. As well as having an incredible line up of trans, nonbinary, gender expansive, Two-Spirit &/or Indigiqueer providers present, the institute was also entirely organized by a committee with both lived and professional experience. I was privileged to chair that committee and I want to take a moment to extend my deepest thank you to my fellow committee members: Dr Dulcinea / Alex Pitagora; Dr. Damon Constantinides; Coltan J. Schoenike and Phoenix Mandel. I particularly want to thank Phoenix, who is also the Chair for AASECT’s Gender Diverse SIG, for getting us started and holding the reins of the committee over the summer before I could move in as chair in the fall.
As an older, trans masculine, nonbinary AASECT member, I honestly thought I would never see this day. I remember when the number of visible trans, nonbinary, gender expansive, Two-Spirit &/or Indigiqueer AASECT members could be counted on one hand. I hesitated for a long time, after moving to the so-called USA, to join the ranks of AASECT as a certified sex therapist. I truly didn’t believe there was space for folks like me within the profession, especially if we weren’t interested in assimilating into or pandering to cisgenderism. I am grateful to both the folks who walked this path before me and to those who, while coming up in their professional career, kept asking me to become a certified sex therapy supervisor because they wanted to work with someone who had both lived and professional experience, someone like them. I am sharing this not to make anyone feel bad but rather because I believe it is important to remember that a long road led to this March 15th 2024, when this Institute could happen.
The day opened with a plenary session on “Gender Magic: Play, Pleasure and Possibility” delivered by Rae McDaniel who shared with us many of the insights from their book. It then continued into an afternoon full of more information with a session on “Inclusive, Sex-Positive Pelvic Health for All Bodies” delivered by Alex Papale, followed by Tavi Hawn presenting on “Trans Pleasure, Joy and Rage”, an interdisciplinary panel focused on “Working Across Disciplines from a Gender-1`Liberated Lens”, chaired by Phoenix Mandel alongside providers Holiday Simmons, Oumou Sylla and Coltan J. Schoenike. We ended the day by celebrating the beauty and joy of Drag as well as by reflecting on and sharing what we had learned guided by Drag King, Actor and Emcee Wang Newton. The reflections were deeply felt and many of us shed a few tears as we connected with one another, the history of our field, and the learning and experiences we shared. It was beautiful to end a day dedicated to cultivating trans thriving with joy, connection and community. I am so grateful to each speaker for bringing their wisdom, knowledge and skills to our Institute. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
We started the day by taking a moment to acknowledge the ongoing systemic violence taking the lives of our siblings, especially our Indigenous, Black and Brown sibs, in a myriad of ways, globally as well as locally. While we intentionally chose to focus on trans thriving, we cannot ignore the waves of anti-trans legislation, the rise of fascism across the globe once more, the number of murdered trans, nonbinary, gender expansive, Two-Spirit &/or Indigiqueer people, and the high levels of suicidality across our communities. Many of us know this deeply in our bones. Survival cannot be enough. Inclusion cannot be enough. We all deserve to thrive, to experience pleasure, joy and possibility. However, until all of us are free, none of us can truly experience thriving. May this Institute be but a small breath of air fanning the flames of liberation for all of us.
Alex Iantaffi, PhD, MS, SEP, CST, CST-S, LMFT
(they/he/lui)