Resilience
The theme of our 2024 gathering is our resilience. Celebrating all of our community's accomplishments and growth in the face of hate is part of what makes our gathering special.
Acknowledgement
We recognize we are hosting this event and living on the unceded and violently stolen lands of the Massachusett and Pawtucket peoples.
In this space, we are working to center the voices of Native trans and Two Spirit people, as well as welcome Tribal leaders to join in trans celebration with us.
May we work together to return this land, celebrate gender diverse people, and work within Harvard to achieve equity in the return of Native goods and remains from museums and other sites.
What's Trans+?
Trans+ is modeled after LGBTQ+ - the plus allows us to include nonbinary, gendernonconforming, intersex, Two-Spirit, and other folks who may not identify as Trans, but are affected by many of the same policies and issues as Trans people. Our allyship and community includes them and they are welcome in this space.
Accessibility
Masking will be highly encouraged for all attendees. In allyship with our disabled community, in particular, and understanding how many Trans+ people are disabled we must do our best to limit the spread of all viral diseases. Masks will be provided at the check-in desk. While we cannot enforce masking, we ask for your help in protecting our community.
We ask all attendees to support sensory, auto-immune, and other needs by being scent-free and low-scent whenever possible.
All of our events will be taking place in the same building. The building has an accessible entrance, accessible restrooms, and elevator, and easy-to navigate floors. The building has been evaluated by Harvard as accessible.
We are approaching decor and logistics with sensory sensitivities in mind and will have some safer foods available at all meals, as well as a sensory decompression space available throughout the event.
Should you have any questions about accessibility or require additional accommodations please contact harvardtranscommunity@gmail.com. For any significant changes, we kindly ask to be alerted before October 30th, 2024.
We stand with our disability community and intend to support all people who wish to join us.
Security
In our present political moment and attempted eradication of trans bodies, we understand that any gathering must take security seriously. The event utilizes Harvard spaces and resources, and we are thus required to work with Harvard University Police Department. We are working diligently to have the smallest impact and presence on this event possible. In 2022, we did not have police in the building of our event.
In order to keep our community safe, we ask that you do not share the location of the event. Once you reserve a free ticket, we will share our location. We are located on Harvard's Cambridge campus.
We will be working with Crimson EMS to ensure safety for participants as well as conducting safety trainings and reviewing evacuation plans with volunteers and staff leaders.
Closed Trans+ spaces will have a designated and trusted staff member ally outside to promote comfortable and safe spaces for participants.
Your security goes beyond the physical - if you have any questions we can answer to help you feel more comfortable, please let us know. We will do our best to keep everyone safe.
Compensation
This event is FREE to attend.
Trans+ folks must be compensated for their emotional and physical labor. As such we are compensating all speakers covering travel and hotels where relevant. Speakers on full-time salary with Harvard University are not eligible for honoraria so that we have the resources to compensate all trans+ speakers. We have the ability to make exceptions on a need-based basis, please contact us.
Research
Last year, we collected casual data for the second time focused on Harvard's trans+ community. This year, short surveys will be available in all closed spaces for Harvard students, faculty, and staff to share their hopes, needs, and goals for our community. Data is completely anonymous and will be seen only by our staff.
Findings from both the 2022 and 2023 event will be incorporated in to the Harvard Trans+ Needs Assessment to assist in advocating for our community in the best possible ways.
Transportation
We HIGHLY recommend taking public transit - there will NOT be parking available for attendees and there is limited street parking. We are equidistant from the Porter Square and Harvard Square T stops on the Red Line. If accessible transportation to and from the event is a challenge for you, please contact us.
Accommodations
We recommend Hotel 1868 and Porter Square Hotel, each about 15 minutes walk from the event. Note, this does not mean rooms are held for us and demand in Boston is high. We recommend booking hotels in October.
There are a lot of hotels in the area, but most are not within a 15-minute walk. Please contact us if you have accessibility concerns and need support or advice.