Hiya lovely people :) Thank you DJ_Brianna for that great introduction.

I'm here to talk about the Transgender Social Center (TGSC) and what we do in RLC/Utherverse.

Before I start that it may be useful to know a bit about my background and how accidentally stumbling into the Utherverse late one night changed my life for ever.

From an early age gender and sexuality for me has been one big melting pot with no defined pigeon holes to put things in. So lets say from the start I was a bisexual boy in stockings and a PVC skirt :)

There have some serious "wow" moments in my life. In gay club one night a drag act welcomed "the gays, the lesbians, the straights and those dirty bisexuals".

That was an awakening. The straight community didn't want bisexuals and neither did the gay community.

I soon also learnt gay guys didn't want a boy in a dress and straight guys wanted to abuse me. I ended up being passed around older men for money and in later life raped a few times and once badly beaten up.

Transgender wasn't a "thing" when and where I grew up. Transvestites were comedians on TV and drag acts in clubs. Gay was bad and bi didn't exist.

This made me live two separate lives. Occasionally becoming one but constantly conflicting with each other. My balance was drink and drugs.

Where does RLC come into this? One night seven years ago, drunk, bored, sick of porn, I looked for something different. I found Utherverse, installed it on a laptop and didn't sleep that night!

Suddenly I was treated as a woman with no question. It was liberating. This is a shared experience in the TG community.

I joined in the days of Trannys, Lassies and TDTS. There was a bit of "oh no a greenie" but two people from then really helped, Meg at TDTS and T at Lassies, sadly both have left.

I was pointed to RYS! as a good place to learn the ropes. RYS! is closed years back. There I met a dear friend, Kaydee_SUNV, and through her my wonderful Utherverse wife of six years AG_Tali_Ashby.

The support of these two and others at RYS lifted me from that dark intoxicated world. In that way RLC has been so positive in my life. It's my new balance.

I can be happy in all my skins, real or virtual and the internal conflicts have pretty much gone. RLC really saved me from self destruction.

Why do we need the Transgender Social Center? I have told you how positive RLC is in my life but I have to tell you it can be negative too.

It was not long before I found that men were treating me here the same as they did in real. A sex object. To some I felt I was little more than a bot with a voice. Also not all women are accepting of male-to-female TG here just as in real.

It was hard to meet up with other TGs except in the sex clubs where we were dancing. Everywhere TG was and mostly still is sex, sex, sex. I wanted to make something else.

That is when I met Chibi_Sky and _Emu_ they have both left and I always cry when I type those names, they had such an effect on me. Give me a mo...

Together we created the Trans_Port. We pulled TG businesses together, made a meeting place and held parties. Chibi was the first to leave and then Emu, or Moo as I called her, sorry tears again...

then Moo found a man in real and left world. Not long after I gave up coming into world. I would log in to give prizes for the clubs I sponsor and to design new outfits. Real world took up my time.

After almost a year came Covid. I logged back in to stay sane. The Trans_Port was out of date and broken.

I had a mission; to rebuild and rebuild better. I built a new venue and called it the TGSC. I made a website, a transport and branded up a patcher.

What is it all about? As Bri said in the introduction it is all about supporting each other with real world and in world issues. We do not distinguish between transvestite, fully transitioned people and everyone in between.

We all have issues that seem unique to ourselves but in reality they are shared by many of us. We talk and listen, sometimes advise.

But the TGSC is not just me, Tali and Willa, it is for everyone, it is all the TG community. M to F and F to M. We want you to use it whether we are there or not. Dance with your friends on one of the two dance floors. Sit in the Comfy Corner and chat by the fire or on the sofas.

Go to the café up stairs and sit with friends for a virtual tea or coffee. It is there to be used. And you won't see boobs or dicks on the wall!

In the TGSC you will find posters/doors to TG orientated or TG friendly parties and TG owned businesses. We also have a clothing department with links to designers who make clothing for TG avis, yay shopping! :)

If you look on our website you will find links to these designers and details of our "Clothes That Fit" campaign.

We are a bit "activist" because there are parts of the Utherverse that upset us or have made us feel second class. I can talk about this in the Q&A or at the booth.

Also part of the TGSC is the Transgender Remembrance Garden for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, 20th November. A day when we honour all our sisters and brothers murdered for being themselves.

Currently in Brazil this is one every 48 hours!

The bottom line is the TGSC is a grown up, safe, non-sexual place for YOU. All our sisters and brothers of the TG community and our straight and gay friends.

Thank you for listening. Before Q&A I would like to thank some people for their support with the TGSC and this conference.

Thank you to Tali for believing in me from the beginning. Thank you to Willa for your invaluable help. Thank you to Brianna at Club Drakon for all you have done.

Thank you to Nuria and Marta at Club Fuck Me_2 for all your support and the joint parties, we love you girls!

Thank you to CharleeXg for being just the coolest guide and friend. Thank you to Kendrick for inviting me to speak.

And finally a really big thank you to my friends Selina, FireFly, Trooper, GI_Jane and Pookie the Tech Volunteers who do such an amazing job keeping us all online and also encouraging me to join VCon.

Thank you everyone! I am happy to answer any questions now.

The TGCS Gang at our booth at Virtual Con 2021
(Willa537, Jane_Ashby, AG_TALI_ASHBY)