First, as Cheryl points out, IFGE terminated the conferance in 1999. Alison and I stepped up to the plate and said that we will do it for them, and do it at no risk to IFGE. That ment that they would make a profit from it, but if they lost money, then we would accept the entire loss.

Second, during our tenure, we put over $300,000 into the IFGE checking account.

Third, our compensation (if you want to call it that) was 50% of the net income from operating the conference. This paid for our ot of pocket expenses, which were never charged to the conference.

Fourth, TEUSA Inc. is a Pennsylvania Non-Profit Corporation and an IRS 501(c)(3) IRS organization. The financial information is available for public inspection at various websites. Before anyone says that we made any large amount from this relationship, I suggest you do your homework.

Fifth, DC was dictated by the IFGE BOD. In contacting the various hotels in the DC area, it was determined that April is the prime tourist season -Cherry Blossom time, group hotel rates were quoted at $295 and higher. Could you afford that?

Sixth, yes I can be a bear to deal with, and yes I did pinch the pennies. Someone talked about a wireless mic. do you know that that cost $125 per day and that and LCD projector costs $600 per day to rent from the hotel and that most hotels have a policy that you need to use their AV provider and that you paid a penality if you did not. Crazy, yes, but that’s most hotels rules.

Seventh, when you click on the IFGE website and look for information on the previous conferences, you are redirected to TEUSAs website. We do not charge for that service, but are still paying for it.

Eighth, we asked, over several years, for an IFGE committee to run the conference, but no one else stepped up to the plate.

Last, I suggest that in the future, everyone that posts negative and incorrect information, please do your homework before you go publick with misinformation.

Kristine James, Executive Director, TEUSA.

That stated…..

TransEvents wasn’t the easiest organization to work with, and I do know that hotel room rates were padded (at least at the one conference I worked on with them) to defer other convention costs. Frugal? Yes, for sure. Hard on the volunteers? After working with them nonstop for several months whenever I was not working at my job, I needed a vacation. But the time, attendance, and budget margins were tight on that conference, and it had to be done the way that it was done.

Now, as for 2009, I don’t have a dog in the hunt. I can’t make it to either spring conference. But I liked Philadelphia, liked the price of the hotel, but I drive to conventions, and recognized it wasn’t the greatest arrangement for those who flew. You had to have a car on premises to venture beyond the hotel. However, the hotel chosen for DC is outrageously high priced, and is even worse (daily parking charges) for those of us who prefer driving to conferences. And April is a better time for a conference, as many people earmark their tax refunds for the conference, not to mention that driving to DC in February across West Virginia is a risky weather proposition. But that doesn’t sound like IFGE’s fault. And, under the new political conditions, having it in DC might well be wise for this year. Hope the convention resumes moving around, as it has done in the past. And, without the appeal of having the IFGE board on hand, there’s not much draw to the Philadelphia conference.

The whole situation is sad, indeed.

After I told her that no, I wasn’t sent that e-mail from TransEvents, much less any communication except for the e-mail from IFGE and a phone call from Monica Helms notifying me I’d won the Trinity on December 30, 2005 ,

I read her the riot act over her pissy attitude. The problem got fixed, but not before it got what was supposed to be a happy and historic moment for me off to a very negative start. .

Unless you have big bucks (and many, many TG folks do not) then you have to choose between two, closely scheduled conventions.

The IFGE Convention in DC is my choice for a numbr of reasons and they have nothing to do with money, except for the fact of who should be making it and that should be the non-profit conference instead of the for profit conference. But that should be obvious. There isn’t enough of it anyway and what there is of it that comes through our community must be parceled out for the right reasons, to help educate others ast this crucial time.

The original goals of the IFGE Convention were to gather the like minded, smart, dedicated leaders of our community together to formulate plans to educate others about all of us “transvestites”. I note that there were a lot fewer of any other kind of gender diverse people back then. Also, and perhaps the most important aspect of the convention was to give our very young community a face and a heart. The face was necessary to help destroy existing stereotypes and the heart was necessary because most of us were unable to put our emotions and feelings clearly on the table so that we did not feel like “freaks”. Along with those two things came recognition and pride over the many years of the conference.

The IFGE Conference has been the proving ground for just about every advanced thought in our community and every leader, to come forth and claim their right of passage and then move on to the mainstream of our society. Before NCTE it was the only reference point in our community to find out everything from politics, to medical treatments, to general support. It has tradition and it has longevity and recognition and that was not gained by how much the rooms cost, where it was held or how you voted in the last election. It was full of heart, intelligence, fun and activism from the first convention held in Chicago, where we danced in the evening, listened intently to the first seminars really ever given at that time, had a chance to meet people we had only heard or read about before and one of the first acts was to vote and form a Congress of Delegates. Education, friendship, activism and fun had found a place in our community, where at least once a year they seemed be able to live together.

It only seems reasonable that at this time in our history that special attention be given to matters connected with ENDA and Hate Crimes. It is imperative that we address this as directly as possible with the most visible signs that we exist and we are out and proud. People who go to Philly might have a good time, but will they really be seen outside of the hotel or in any numbers? People who go to the DC conference will be seen and will make an effect on others and how they think. It will also provide the opportunity for those who question our intenstions about ENDA and Hate Crimes and their importance to us at this critical juncture, to be able to judge just how important they are to us. A meager showing in DC will only confirm the fact to legislators and their staff that our community is a lot of talk, but very little walk. For that one reason it is important that the IFGE Conference in DC this year be able to send the message that we care what happens in the coming year, that our hearts are in the right place and that education is still the most important thing that IFGE does.

For those who don’t mind hearing the rasping voice of people like Barney Frank telling us that we need to educate more, it doesn’t make any difference to me where else you might go.

Helen observes that members of the community are looking for an educational event. Despite the timing and location of the 2009 event, the educational content remains unchanged. It would be my view that what we’re really talking about here is the difference between a service motivated event and a profit motivated event.

That Transevents is attempting to capitalize on the past history of IFGE in the Philadelphia location is pretty clear. While I would not discourage any presenter or attendee from participating in the April 2009 event in Philadelphia, I would propose that this event is being held strictly in the interest of the further enrichment of Transevents, and is of an entirely commercial nature.

IFGE continues to serve the community as an educational organization, and any involvement in trans politics is no different from that we would find at SCC, Be-All or any similar community event. Participation in lobbying efforts at the municipal, state or federal level, particularly with regard to ENDA, is, in my opinion the obligation of any organization that represents the trans community in any capacity. It should be noted that the lobbying event planned for the February IFGE event is not the primary focus of the event, but has been included in the program because of the timing and the location of the conference.

The program will include numerous educational and social activities typical of all such events, and we look forward to providing the service to this community for which we are best known.

TransEvents is filling that void.

From what I know, they’re also donating their time to help organize IFGE’s conference.

For the record, I know the TransEvents ladies because of all the other conferences they’ve done – most of them for IFGE – & before I knew there was any brouhaha, they’d asked me to be a keynote speaker, and I said yes, precisely because they’re focusing on allies & partners etc. (which is a conference theme that has been a long time coming).

I really don’t see that TransEvents has done anything malicious here, and using the contacts they’ve used over & over again seems like a sound idea – most people I know who want to know about IFGE stuff want to know about other gender conferences & transgender orgs as well. Charities & the like regularly sell their mailing lists to each other.

I guess what I’m saying is: do we know this is malicious? I don’t.