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[Image]The World Professional Association For Transgender Health (WPATH) is gathered together in Bangkok, Thailand for their 23rd Biennial Symposium in the Land of Smiles from February 14-18 (Thailand time)

The WPATH Symposium's purpose is to present professionals working in the field of transgender health with the latest advances in research, education, clinical service, and advocacy to promote the health and well being of trans people and their families. 

You know, all that research on trans issues our haters claim doesn't exist or they wish to ignore.

The WPATH Symposium scientific program addresses topics in several areas including primary care, psychiatry, endocrinology, and surgery; psychology, social work, marriage and family therapy; sociology and anthropology; gender and sexuality; speech and voice therapy; and other related fields relevant to transgender health.  Professionals, clinicians, researchers, and academics were invited to submit before the start of the conference relevant abstracts.

The symposium will also have a variety of special panels, paper presentations, poster sessions and speakers, including some on the following topics: Children, families, and youth; ethnic/racial and cultural diversity in transgender health; transition-related services; community-based health care and community-participatory research; transgenderism in sports; legal & human rights; and the latest advances in brain research.

The theme of this 23rd WPATH Biennial Symposium is 'Transgender Health From Global Perspectives' and there are a record 523 registrants for the conference from 39 nations headed to the event from every corner of our planet to the conferences host hotel at the Anantara Bangkok Riverside Hotel.

From H-town to take part in this premier symposium on transgender health issues will be Dr. Colt Keo-Meier and the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Transgender Civil Rights Project and TPOCC founder Kylar Broadus will be in the WPATH house for it as well.  

When they arrive in Bangkok, they will witness plenary speakers covering topics such as Development of Sex-Reassignment Surgery in Thailand, with Preecha Tiewtranon MD; Experience of Uterus Transplantation From Mothers to Daughters, with Liza Johannesson MD, PhD; Co-Dependency as a Way of Life, with Louis Gooren MD; ICD Plenary, moderated by Gail Knudson MD; The Brain of Transsexual Persons, with Antonio Guillamon MD; and A Brief History of the Thai Kathoey: Behind the Myths and Stereotypes, with Peter Jackson PhD.Q

One of the concerns of the international trans community is next year's scheduled May 2015 World Health Organization ICD-11 revision and the recently released DSM-V one as it relates to gender diagnoses.  That subject will be addressed during the time these transgender health professionals are gathered in Bangkok.

WPATH has already called for depathologization, but just in case you missed it:
The WPATH Board of Directors strongly urges the de-psychopathologisation of gender variance worldwide. The expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon which should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative. The psychopathologlization of gender characteristics and identities reinforces or can prompt stigma, making prejudice and discrimination more likely, rendering transgender and transsexual people more vulnerable to social and legal marginalization and exclusion, and increasing risks to mental and physical well-being. WPATH urges governmental and medical professional organizations to review their policies and practices to eliminate stigma toward gender-variant people.
It is going to be an exciting, informative upcoming four days in Bangkok.