Organizers of B.C. transgender history conference blame Trump, with attendance set to slump​on March 26, 2025 at 10:00 pm

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 own country,” said Devor, who is the founder and host of the conferences.

Trump’s executive order says that all government-issued identification, including passports and visas, must “accurately reflect the holder’s sex.”

The U.S. State Department has said it will stop issuing travel documents with the “X” gender marker preferred by many nonbinary people, and it will only issue passports with an “M” or “F” sex marker matching the person’s “biological sex” at birth.

“What I see has changed in light of the Trump administration and the actions that have been taken by the Trump administration is that trans-plus people from the U.S. are very nervous about crossing into Canada to come to the conference because they have to return to the United States,” said Devor.

The conference, which is running until Sunday, involves activists, academics, and artists from across the world, the university says, with more than 100 guests making presentations.

The organizers say the event addresses “both our history and the crucial issues that impact us today and into the future _ locally, nationally, and globally.”

American philanthropist Jennifer Pritzker, who gave a foundational gift to help start the chair in transgender studies at the University of Victoria, is scheduled as a speaker on Thursday night.