GDX attended the ARC International (a Canadian-based organization dedicated to advancing LGBT rights advocacy) conference in Johannesburg.

This was the first time ARC International held a conference in Africa, and it was at this conference that many self-identified trans people from other countries and trans-African activists met in person. This conference played a significant role in the preliminary understanding of trans in Africa, after this conference’s awareness about trans, many African activists realized a new understanding of transgender and transgender-related issues, and a number of African activists contacted Liesl Theron at Gender DynamiX to discuss their own awareness and autonomous claiming of trans as an identity.

The impact and significance of this trans awareness resulted in the founding of TIT Uganda in January 2008, as well as the unfolding of a very tense regional Feminist institute in Mozambique.