Transfaith at Philly Trans Wellness/Health
The Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference was founded in 2001 and now spans three days each summer. The conference itself was first envisioned by Transfaith sister, Minister Charlene Arcila and was originally called the Philadelphia Trans Health Conference. The name was changed in 2018.
“It was a vision I had. There were conferences for upper-middle class, rich trans. People like myself, we had no where to go.”
Spirituality at PTWC
The spirit of Transfaith has been infused into the conference even more deeply since Mx. Chris Paige first volunteered to co-found a spirituality track of programming, bringing conversation, networking, and spiritual observance more explicitly into the space. Chris went on to be the Chair of the 2011 Tenth Anniversary Conference (with a brief cameo in Trans) and led a reorganization of the volunteer planning committee.
Our current executive director, Louis Mitchell gave the keynote address in 2012.
Why Does Transfaith Invest in PTWC?
Transfaith officially began orchestrating the spirituality track overall as an organization in 2017.
There are few places in the world where people of spirit can gather to learn about transgender communities in all of our diversity -- not simply to hear about diversity from one or a few presenters, but to walk among transgender people from a variety of races and life experiences. By gathering in the middle of the largest, transgender-specific conference in the world, we are able to encourage interaction with experts from a variety of disciplines who can help conference participants to contextualize the role of spirituality in the lives of transgender communities.
Key Things To Know About PTWC
Largest transgender-specific conference in the world
Registration for community programming is free
Includes programming for parents with young children, gender variant children, tweens, youth
Family, friends, and allies are encouraged to join in
Topics ranging from medical and mental health to spirituality, relationships, and legal
The Mazzoni Center has supported in PTWC programming since the first conference as fiscal sponsor and later took on the conference as a formal program