The Southern Comfort Conference is a major

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

conference that has taken place annually since 1991. It features seminars, events, and speeches by prominent people in the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

community, numerous vendors catering to transgender and

transsexual Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignmen ...

people, and more. The event has become famous and today is known as the largest transgender conference in the United States. The event brings together transgender people, researchers, educators, therapists, doctors, and LGBT organizations fand offers scholarships to some attendees.Dyana Bagby
"'It's like my world': Southern Comfort Conference provides safe space for trans people."
'' Southern Voice'' 2 October 2009. The conference provided the title for and is featured heavily in the 2001 documentary ''

Southern Comfort Southern Comfort (often abbreviated SoCo) is an American, naturally fruit-flavored, whiskey liqueur with fruit and spice accents. The brand was created by bartender Martin Wilkes Heron in New Orleans in 1874, using whiskey as the base spirit. W ...

'', about the life and death of Robert Eads, whose goal in 1998 was to live long enough to attend the conference. Eads succeeded, and his speech at the conference is featured in the documentary. In honor of the memory of Eads, the conference offers health exams through the annual "Robert Eads Health Project" in collaboration with the Trans Health Initiative at the Feminist Women's Health Center. The conference has built a reputation as a safe place for LGBT people with a familial atmosphere, and aims at inclusiveness. It attracts people from all over the United States, offering the opportunity for social and other interaction. From the conference's founding in 1991 until 2014, the conference was held in Atlanta, Georgia. At the conclusion of the 2014 Southern Comfort Conference, the board of directors announced that SCC 2015-2017 would be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With support from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitor Bureau, the 2017 conference was to be held from September 14–17 at The Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale However it was cancelled because of

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two ...

. The 2018 and 2019 conferences returned to the Riverside. The conference was cancelled in 2020 an 2021 due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

concerns but the conference website states it looks to bring the conference back in the future.

References

External links

Southern Comfort
conference website and general information Transgender events LGBT events in Georgia (U.S. state) Transgender organizations in the United States LGBT conferences LGBT culture in Miami LGBT events in Florida Conferences in the United States 1991 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) {{LGBT-event-stub

See also

References

External links