U.S. attendees fear of travel threatens attendance at B.C. trans history conference [Video]

The chair of transgender studies at the University of Victoria is worried about attendance at this year’s Moving Trans History Forward conference, with expectations of a 40 per cent drop in numbers.

Aaron Devor says American potential attendees are reluctant to cross the border — not because of what might happen when they enter Canada, but what could happen when they try to return to the United States.

He says the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump sent a chill through the trans community in January with an executive order that the federal government recognizes two sexes, male and female, that cannot change and are an “immutable biological classification” from conception.

Devor says the biennial trans history conference that begins Thursday was hoping for 500 attendees based on past events, but only about 300 were now expected.

“The difference, I attribute almost entirely to Americans being afraid to leave their …