Ahhh! Mid-May is round the corner… the time when the sun is shining, the first blooms are sprouting in the Great White North… and transwomen descend on Las Vegas!

For a decade or so, a group calling itself Diva Las Vegas (www.geekbabe.com/dlv) has been organizing a trip to Las Vegas unlike any other crossdresser/transvestite convention. There is no official hotel, no conferences, no presenters, no meals included. In fact, registration is free. They take care of dreaming up many things you can do, and you can do and pay for whatever you want. It’s basically like going to Las Vegas on your own, but there just happens to be a large group of TGs doing stuff that you can join and they’re happy to have you.

I am preparing to go to Las Vegas during Diva week, though I haven’t yet decided whether I’ll sign up with them. In fact, I doubt I will.

One message that comes through quite clearly from reading their information is their obsession with decorum. It is more important to them than anything else that those that attend DLV dress conservatively and don’t make any trouble. Don’t draw attention to yourself, and don’t argue with anyone, even if they’re wrong.

Now, I’m no wild party animal, and I tend not to go out looking for trouble, so I understand where they are coming from. But, I haven’t lost the inclination to let loose from time to time and I love hanging out with people who live life ecstatically. A vacation in Las Vegas with a bunch of girlfriends seems like the perfect time and place to shake things up!

So, the attitude of these Divas seems a bit out of place and overdone, at least to me. Critically, it will have the effect – likely intended – of discouraging the fun, exuberant people from attending. Do I have any interest in spending a week with a group that has defined itself primarily as conservative, responsible, reasonable, even timid? It’ll be like going with my parents and not being allowed to bring along any of my fun friends.

A group of t-girls went through a very similar thought process about two years ago. They went to Diva Las Vegas and quickly started to bridle at the restrictions. They soon became the “bad girls” of the group, organizing parties and having a grand ol’ time.

Rather than make a photo album and reminisce about that great experience, they took it upon themselves to organize a trip for the following year for as many like-minded t-girls as wanted to go. In my opinion, this was a tremendous act of charity and community.

Two years on and the 3^rd Annual Viva Wildside is about to happen. The girls who have gone in the past seem to be fast friends and the atmosphere is all about acceptance and fun. The organizers of Wildside have facilitated friendships and experiences and created a home for a t-girl demographic that was outside the focus of any other convention of which I am aware. I am so excited to be a part of this for the first time!

I gotta start packing!