Bay Windows, MA, USA


1/31/2007

Planning ramps up for passage of trans bill

Ethan Jacobs
ejacobs@...


[PHOTO:
<http://baywindows.com/Media/PublicationsArticle/holly_0.jpg>
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition co-chair Holly Ryan.
Photo: Marilyn Humphries ]


With the transgender non-discrimination and hate crimes bill on the
state legislature's docket for the new session, the Massachusetts
Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is working to ramp up a
campaign to pass what would be the first statewide transgender civil
rights legislation in Massachusetts history. Holly Ryan, MTPC's co-
chair, said over the next few months MTPC will hold a series of at
least four town hall meetings across the state to get members of the
transgender community and its allies involved in the push to pass the
amendment. The first meeting is scheduled for Feb. 10 in Northampton,
the second will be held March 10 in Hyannis, and MTPC is setting up
other meetings in Worcester and the North Shore.

"That's basically for people from the trans community and their
allies to get together with us, and we can tell them where we are on
the bill and what they can do to help us," said Ryan.

She said she and her fellow co-chair, Diego Sanchez, are also meeting
with other LGBT groups to ask them to formally declare their support
for the new legislation. Among the groups on board thus far are
MassEquality, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the
Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, the Massachusetts Gay
and Lesbian Bar Association (MLGBA), the Boston Alliance of Gay and
Lesbian Youth (BAGLY), the Gay and Lesbian Labor Activist Network
(GALLAN), the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, and the TransFM
radio network.

Several of the supporting organizations have worked directly with
MTPC and the lead sponsors of the bill, Reps. Carl Sciortino (D-
Somerville) and Byron Rushing (D-Boston), to help advance the bill.
Ryan said GLAD and MLGBA drafted the language of the bill, which bans
discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment,
education, housing, and credit, and adds hate crimes protections
based on gender identity and expression.

MassEquality and the Caucus helped plan logistics for the campaign,
including working with MTPC to set up the town hall meetings and
reach out to the community, and Ryan said the Caucus will be working
with MTPC in the state house to try and pass the bill. Back in 1989
the Caucus led the effort to pass the country's second gay and
lesbian civil rights bill.

While the gay and lesbian civil rights bill took more than a decade
to win passage in the legislature, Ryan said she believes there is a
good chance the transgender non-discrimination and hate crimes bill
will have a much less arduous journey through the State House.

"We're hoping that all of it will pass by the end of this legislative
session, which is a two-year session, and we really think it has a
chance, and we hope it does," said Ryan. "A lot of it is education
that has to be done with the senators and representatives. Some of
them thought they already passed it in 89. They thought that gay is
trans, trans is gay, which it isn't."

Sciortino also believes the bill has a shot at passing this
legislative session. In addition to Sciortino and Rushing the bill
has 21 co-sponsors in the House and Senate, and Sciortino said the
strong support from his fellow lawmakers is a good sign. Yet he said
passing the bill will also require a strong effort to educate
lawmakers and aggressive community organizing to rally people to work
to help pass the bill.

Sciortino said that even though this will be the first time lawmakers
will consider legislation focused on transgender rights, he believes
many lawmakers have at least some familiarity with the trans
community.

"I think it's a very new issue in terms of legislation for
Massachusetts, but I do know that the issues facing transgender
people are not new to our community and to the average person, so I
don't think it's a brand new topic," said Sciortino. "Legislators,
like anyone else, have seen in the media portrayals of violence
against transgender people. They've seen movies like TransAmerica and
Boys Don't Cry, and it's familiar in that cultural context, but it
will be new in terms of legislation."

Ryan said the bill has not yet been assigned to a committee, but she
expects that to happen within the next couple of weeks. Once the bill
is assigned to a committee Sciortino said the focus will be to
prepare for a public hearing on the bill before that committee. He
said it will be important to find members of the trans community and
their allies to testify as to why the non-discrimination and hate
crimes protections are crucial.

Ryan said people looking to get involved in working to pass the new
legislation should attend one of the town hall meetings or
www.masstpc.org to learn more about what work needs to be done.

The impetus for the non-discrimination and hate crimes bill was a
forum on anti-transgender discrimination held back in November 2005
at Suffolk Law School. At the forum Sciortino, just one year after
his election to the House, volunteered to introduce a statewide non-
discrimination bill covering the transgender community. Since then he
has been working with MTPC to ready the bill, and he said he is glad
that they are finally at the point where they can advocate for the
finished bill.

"I think there's a sense of relief and excitement that we finally
have a bill to organize around," said Sciortino. "When I came into
the legislature two years ago I was shocked and embarrassed to
realize that we didn't already have protection for our trans brothers
and sisters, and I think it's long overdue."


==

MTPC town hall meetings

Northampton
Feb. 10, 2007, 1-4 p.m.
Community Room of the Media Education Foundation
60 Masonic Street

Hyannis
March 10, 2007. 1-4 p.m.
The Cape and Islands Gay Straight Youth Alliance (CIGSYA) House
56 Barnstable Road
Co-sponsored by CIGSYA

==


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