"We Can't Thrive If We Don't Survive"

Last week Transforming Hearts Collective co-leader Teo Drake delivered a keynote address at the annual South Carolina HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis Conference, held October 25–26 in Columbia, South Carolina. The theme of this year’s conference was “Thriving Together for Tomorrow.”

Teo’s keynote was titled “We Can’t Thrive If We Don’t Survive: Addressing Disparities in Access to Care for Transgender People,” and covered the current landscape faced by transgender people living with HIV, the particular barriers that HIV-positive trans people face in accessing competent care, the strengths and resilience that trans people bring forward to get their needs met, and the ways in which race, class, ability, sexuality, and gender intersect within HIV-positive trans communities and how these intersections affect disparities, access, and health outcomes.

Teo also teamed up with fellow Positively Trans National Advisory Board member Kiara St. James to deliver two workshops: “Transgender 101” and “Fighting for Survival: The Call to Center the Needs and Expertise of Transgender Women of Color.”