Healthcare Access Survey
Trans Suicide Prevention
Gender Marker 
The Secret History of Love, performed by award-winning transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey Dance, comes to Boston
MTPC is excited to be partnering with the Theater Offensive’s for their new show The Secret History of Love
May 17-19, 2012 at Hibernia Hall, 184 Dudley St, Roxbury
Presented by The Theater Offensive & Hibernian Hall, Secret History is a powerful new dance theater show choreographed and performed by award-winning transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey Dance. Secret love affairs, the history of outlawing love and the underground ways that transgender and queer people found each other through the decades are revealed in these powerful dances.
MTPC’s executive director and nationally-recognized transgender activist Gunner Scott will be honored on opening night, 5/17 with the Out on the Edge award and a celebratory reception for his work on the Transgender Equality Bill.
& You Can Support MTPC at The Secret History of Love
The Theater Offensive is honoring Executive Director Gunner Scott with the Out on the Edge award on opening night of The Secret History of Love, a groundbreaking dance theater piece by award-winning transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey Dance. Interviews conducted with LGBT Seniors in Boston have been incorporated into this amazing dance theater production.
MTPC is a proud Community Partner of The Secret History of Love. If 25 MTPC supporters attend, The Theater Offensive will award MTPC a $200 grant!
Join us at any of the following performances:
May 17, 7:30 pm performance: featuring award ceremony & reception for Gunner Scott
May 18: 8 pm performance
May 19th: 2 pm matinee
8 pm performance: featuring OUT in Your Neighborhood reception
Hibernia Hall, 184 Dudley St, Roxbury is accessible via Dudley Station including silver line SL5 , #1 Bus, #42 bus, a number of other buses that go to Dudley Station, plus on street parking BUY TICKETS TODAY!
Community Partners include: Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition & Hispanic Black Gay Coalition.
Check out this sneak peek of the show!
Thank you for making MTPC a Grand Marshal for Boston Pride
State Representative Carl Sciortino, members of Boston’s all gender softball teams Trailblazers and Barnstormers, and Sisters will be joining us! YOU CAN TOO!
If you would like to march with drop us an email at info@masstpc.org
For other great events and news check out MTPC’s May E-newsletter
Boston LGBT Film Fest: Transgender Selections
May 3-13th
See website for tickets
5/4/2012 & 5/5/12
Hedwig and The Angry Inch
at 11:59pm (Midnight Showing) at Coolidge Corner Theatre
With a special drag performance before both screenings: LaKia Mondale will be donning her finest wig and frock to channel the spirit of not only Hedwig, but Beyonce and Lady Gaga as well!
Little East German boy, Hansel, spent his young life secretly listening to American rock & roll and dressing up in his mother’s dresses, heels, wigs and lipstick. He was destined for great things, but not stuck in an East German Soviet Block apartment. When a U.S. G.I. catches his eye and offers to help him get a sex-change operation and move to America, Hansel jumps at the chance to finally escape into his dreams.
5/5/2012
Senorita
4pm at Brattle Theatre
Wanting to quit prostitution in Manila and start a new life, Sofia, a transgender woman, gets her chance when an old friend asks her to look after her twelve yearold son, Tomas, while she works overseas for a year. Sofia packs her bags and moves to the small town of Talisay where she becomes Donna, taking care of Tomas. As she’s about to settle into this quiet, idyllic life, the past inevitably creeps back up and she discovers that the town’s mayor Tiongson, who is seeking re-election, is a crony of Verano, one of her regular clients back in Manila
5/6/2012
Transgender Shorts Program: Orchids and More
4pm at Brattle Theatre
Documentary filmmaker, Phoebe Hart, comes clean on her journey of self-discovery to embrace her future and reconcile the past shame and family secrecy surrounding her intersex condition in Orchids. Ewan Duarte’s Spiral Transition is a documentary about the filmmaker’s relationship with his mother and how it is evolving and transforming as he transitions genders. And in Charlotte a beautiful, young woman in desperate need of love musters up the courage to go on her first internet date – but unfortunately her date and her don’t see eye to eye.
5/6/2012
Look at Me Again (Olhe Pra Mim de Novo)
7 30pm At Brattle Theatre
“Look at Me Again is a road movie that whisks us away to the wild, semi-arid expanse of north-eastern Brazil. Our tough, cool travelling companion is Silvyo Luccio (‘… I was born a woman, became a lesbian and am now a man’), a thinker in the throes of transition and transformation who finds himself on a journey back into his
religious-fundamentalist, deeply prejudiced, traditionalist past. At the heart of old wounds, humiliation and trauma lies an anxiously awaited encounter with a daughter and the hope of familial reconciliation.”
5/11/12
Facing Mirrors (Aynehaye Rooberoo)
830p at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Rana and Adineh, two women of very different backgrounds and social class are accidentally brought together to share a journey. Rana, inexperienced, religious and bound by traditions, is forced to drive a cab in order to survive financially. Adineh, wealthy yet rebellious, has escaped from her home. Along the way, Rana begins to understand that her passenger is a transsexual who is planning on having an operation. For Rana, comprehending and accepting such a reality is close to impossible and tantamount to abandoning everything she was raised to believe. (Description courtesy of the Montreal World Film Festival.)
5/12/12
Madame X
11:59pm (Midnight Showing) at Coolidge Corner Theatre
“In this Indonesian-styled Priscilla Queen of the Desert, our transsexual superhero goes up against Mr. Storm, The National Morality Front, and his deadly burqa-clad wives. A dark wit pervades this daring, camp-filled first feature from director Lucky Kuswandi. Is it a curling iron? Is it a hair dryer? No, it’s Madame X – the world’s
first trans superhero! Adam leads a regular life as a hairdresser until she’s suddenly chosen by destiny to fight a transphobic gang who commits hate crimes in the night life of Jakarta.”
North Shore MTPC Town Hall Meeting & Beverly YMCA’s Discrimination
Calling all trans folk and allies!
We’re adding a discussion of discrimination against a trans woman by the Beverly YMCA to our Trans Town Hall meeting tonight (Thursday) night in Salem, 6:30p – 8:30p at Universalist Church of Salem at 211 Bridge Street, near the commuter rail station.
These town hall meetings give MTPC an opportunity to learn about what you have been experiencing in your community, and for us to provide you with information about the new Trans Rights law, an update about MTPC work, and our agenda for the next legislative session. We want to know what MTPC can do to help improve your lives.
This meeting will be an opportunity to:
· Find how the new state law passed last November affects you
· Meet with trans community leaders
· Share your own opinions and ideas
· Help decide what’s next for our community
· Show your support for the work of MTPC
AND:
· Learn about a trans woman’s complaint with the Beverly YMCA
Please join us!
MTPC Celebrates EEOC Victory & Worcester Town Hall Update
See our latest MTPC Newsletter for More Great Announcements – Highlights Include:
MTPC want to congratulate our sister organization, Transgender Law Center (TLC), for their victory for the whole transgender community on a ruling by the EEOC that transgender people are protected by Title VII. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee.
MTPC’s Annual Transgender Town Hall Meetings
Boston: Monday, April 30th
6:30p – 8:30p at 14 Beacon St, Boston, MA – 1st floor conference room – near Park St. and Downtown Crossing T stations
Worcester: Thursday, May 24th (NEW DATE)
6-8p at AIDS Project Worcester, Inc. at 85 Green Street Worcester, MA 01604
The entrance of APW is actually behind Green Street. The street address of 85 Green Street will take you to PPW supply. If you are directly facing PPW, there will be a street to your right, which is called Plymouth Street. You will need to turn or walk up Plymouth Street about one block. On the left you will see an incline/steep drive way which is our drive way. You can park in either the lower or upper lots and the main entrance is up this driveway and to the left.
Salem: Thursday, May 3rd
6:30p – 8:30p at Universalist Church of Salem at 211 Bridge Street
MTPC Wants Your Vote!
Vote for MTPC to be Boston Pride’s Grand Marshal!
See our Mid-April Newsletter
For other great events like…
Tues, April 24th
Kaleidoscope: A Gender Discussion Group – By & For People of Color
A bi-monthly discussion group: A safe, casual space for POC of all genders and sexualities to gather, meet, and discuss the issues that are important to us. While allies are important, this is intended to be a POC only space. This discussion group will meet bi-monthly and is sponsored by the Kaleidoscope group of MTPC.
7:30p – 9:00p at 14 Beacon St, Boston, MA – 1st floor conference room, near Park St. and Downtown Crossing T stations. For more information contact Maxwell@masstpc.org or call 617-778-0519
MTPC’s Lawyers for Transgender Rights a Great Success! Thank You
Thank you to everyone that came out to MTPC’s Lawyers for Transgender Rights Event last week. We were so thrilled that Speaker DeLeo could join us, accept our 2012 Transgender Ally Award, and speak to our guests.
From the Edge article about the event:
“If you had said to me, 22 years ago, when I was first elected to the Legislature, that Bob DeLeo would be up here accepting the Transgender Ally Award, I would’ve said ’you’re out of your mind,’” said DeLeo immediately after he accepted the award. “Now, I sort of feel good about myself because I have evolved. I’ve learned quite a bit. There were many times when I wanted to say ’I give up. There’s no way I can do it,’”
Please check out the rest of the article.
Here are some other great photos from the event taken by Trevor Wright and Alex Coleman.
LTR 2012 Co-Chairs Bri Lacy and Catherine Deneke
Speaker DeLeo, Rep. Carl Sciortino, and Grace Sterling Stowell of BAGLY
Grace Sterling Stowell, Rep Carl Sciortino, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, and Rep. Byron Rushing
We look forward to seeing you at next year’s Lawyers Transgender Rights Event in 2013!
MTPC April E-News & Reversing Discrimination In the Miss Universe Pageant
Check out MTPC’s E-News for April which includes: Info on MTPC’s Town Hall Meetings, Ticket Info for Lawyers for Transgender Rights and Lots of Community Events Across the State
MTPC’s Executive Director Speaks Out About Discrimination In the Miss Universe Pageant
While not everyone dreams of being Miss Universe and works towards that goal like Ms. Talackova has done, this situation is not unlike discrimination in employment for transgender people. Many transgender youth and adults do not get the same opportunities, even when qualified, because of gender identity discrimination. Ms. Talackova met the qualifications to compete along with 64 other young women, but pageant officials disqualified her for not being a “naturally born woman.”
But, last night things turned around and the Miss Universe Organization released this statement:
“The Miss Universe Organization will allow Jenna Talackova to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada, and the standards established by other international competitions.”
I believe this change came about because of strong and visible advocacy from a number of different organizations such as MTPC and GLAAD but especially from community members such as, transgender people, GLB people, straight allies, and many pageant fans. I am thrilled that Ms.Talackova will be given the opportunity to compete, but I also hope that the bar for other young transgender women to enter pageants like Miss Universe is not set so impossibly high that we may not see another contestant like Ms. Talackova in the near future. As many of us know, transition related health care and medical procedures are not always accessible and in some states in the US and some countries, it is not always possible to change gender information on all identity documents, no matter what kind of medical transition a person has gone through.
Today, we have a beautiful young women who is not just representing her country, but is an example for other young transgender girls that they can dream big and work towards making their dreams a reality, including the chance at being Miss Universe.
Gunner Scott
Watch MTPC’s Executive Director Speaking Out on Channel 5 News
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo to Keynote Third Annual Lawyers for Transgender Rights Event
The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is excited to announce its third annual Lawyers for Transgender Rights event on Thursday, April 12th at 6 p.m. at The Estate in Boston. Massachusetts. House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo will be accepting MTPC’s 2012 Transgender Ally Award and offering brief remarks.
“We are honored and thrilled to have House Speaker Robert DeLeo as our 2012 Transgender Ally Award recipient,” said MTPC Executive Director Gunner Scott. “We’re grateful for his leadership on the passage of gender identity protections in employment, housing, credit, and education in Massachusetts.”
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo (D-Winthrop) has represented the 19th Suffolk District, including the Town of the Winthrop and a portion of the City of Revere, in the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 1991. DeLeo became Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives on January 28, 2009. Speaker DeLeo was an early and vocal advocate for the passage of Massachusetts’ Transgender Equal Rights Bill and has co-sponsored the bill in previous legislative sessions.
Speaker DeLeo also successfully brought nationally heralded legislation cutting healthcare costs for cities and towns in Massachusetts. The same session, he spearheaded far-reaching judiciary reorganization legislation in concert with the chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. Speaker DeLeo’s priorities include job creation, workforce development, strong fiscal management and government and economy reform.
Lawyers for Transgender Rights is a cocktail reception and silent auction event that brings together lawyers, law students, law firms, legal organizations, bar associations and law schools to network and build support in the legal community for MTPC’s important work on behalf of transgender rights.
“Lawyers for Transgender Rights provides an opportunity to hear about MTPC’s exciting work while raising money for this amazing organization,” said Bri Lacy, co-chair of LTR’s Host Committee. “MTPC is the leading organization working to implement the newly passed transgender protections through training and public education as well as set the ground work future legislative and advocacy campaigns.” Catherine Deneke, also co-chair of the Host Committee, added, “We are so proud that the legal community continues to stand on the side of equality and has shown such tremendous support for MTPC and this event.”
Other highlights at this year’s event include live music by Urban Myth, a silent auction featuring items such as four tickets to the 100th Anniversary Game between the Boston Red Sox and the NY Yankees as well as four tickets to The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour this summer, donated by Foley Hoag LLP.
The 2012 Lawyers for Transgender Rights Event is sponsored by Ropes & Gray, WilmerHale, Hirsch Roberts Weinstein LLP, Mintz Levin, Edwards Wildman Palmer, Foley Hoag LLP, Wilson, Marino & Bonnevie, P.C., Day Pitney LLP, Ross Silverman LLP, Goodwin Proctor, McDermott Will & Emery, Joan M. Fund, Esq., Wade Horowitz LaPointe LLC, GLAD, Shilepsky Hartley Robb Casey Michon LLP, Bingham McCutchen, Stefanie Fisher, Esq., Law Office of Adam S. Minsky, Tammy Serata Designs, Kauffman Crozier LLP, WestlawNext, State Street Corp., Deborah and Ron Peeples, Janson Wu, Liz & Will Monnin-Browder, Vicky Steinberg & Gavi Wolfe, M. Barusch and Greg Price, Sam Bickett & Adam Edgerton, Gary Buseck, Eastern Bank, Michelle Figueiredo, Tennant Lubell, LLC, Hema Sarang-Sieminski, Attorney at Law and a number of other organizations and individuals (the full listing is available at www.masstpc.org/ltr).
Advance tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available on MTPC’s website at www.masstpc.org/ltr. Tickets will be on sale at the door the night the event as well starting at $65.00 for lawyers, $35 for non-profit, $15 for students. For more information please contact MTPC at 617-778-0519.
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Founded in 2001, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is a 501(c) 3 that works to end discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. MTPC educates the public, advocates with state, local, and federal government, engages in political activism, and encourages empowerment of community members through collective action. http://www.masstpc.org
Laverne Cox, Isis King, Noah Lewis & Kit Yan Share Their “I AM: Trans People Speak” Stories
GLAAD and MTPC Launch “I AM: Trans People Speak” Video Series
GLAAD and MTPC Project Calls for Transgender People and Allies to Speak Out
New York, NY, March 22, 2012 – Today, GLAAD, the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), announced the upcoming national launch of the “I AM: Trans People Speak” video series and called for the public to submit their own stories. The campaign aims to spotlight the stories of transgender Americans and their allies in an effort to educate the public about transgender issues, as well as speak to transgender youth and adults.
A trailer video of Laverne Cox, Isis King, Noah Lewis and Kit Yan, as well as more information about the campaign is available here: http://www.glaad.org/
GLAAD and MTPC today asked members of the transgender community and their allies to create their own videos for the upcoming launch.
“The stories of transgender Americans remain relatively invisible in both national and LGBT media,” said GLAAD spokesperson Herndon Graddick. “These stories will not only empower members of the transgender community who rarely see relatable stories, but also educate Americans everywhere about the fact that the community is a valuable part of the fabric of our culture. The campaign will also shine a light on the high level of discrimination that our transgender brothers and sisters continue to face in schools, the workplace and in their own neighborhoods.”
“By providing a place for transgender people, family members and our allies to share their stories, we hope to empower our community and the general public to advocate for transgender equality and move the culture towards acceptance of transgender youth and adults, said Gunner Scott, executive director of MTPC. “With GLAAD’s leadership on this project, we will be educating the public and be a resource to the mainstream media about the reality of transgender peoples’ lives and the unique challenges they face due to pervasive bias, stereotypes and misunderstanding.”
GLAAD and MTPC will release videos of transgender leaders and allies speaking out in the coming weeks, with participants including:
• Laverne Cox – actress, producer, and writer. Laverne was the first African American transgender woman to appear on a national reality show when she competed on MTV’s “I Want to Work For Diddy.” The show received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Reality Series. She later co-created, co-produced and starred in VH1’s “Transform Me.” She has starred in a number of television episodes and films including Musical Chairs, which opens Friday in select cities. She is also a contributor to the Huffington Post.
• Isis King – model, fashion designer and actress. Isis was the first transgender contestant on America’s Next Top Model and most recently appeared in America’s Next Top Model All Stars cycle.
• Kit Yan – spoken word artist. Kit was featured in the HBO documentary Asians Aloud. His work has been commissioned by the Census, showcased by the Department of Justice, and taught at universities around the world.
• Noah Lewis – lawyer and advocate. Noah is a staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF).
In 2010, MTPC launched the original “I AM: Trans People Speak” campaign to educate Massachusetts residents about the lives of their transgender neighbors. That campaign has now grown to include the voices and experiences of over 40 local transgender people, family members and allies. Recognizing the need for transgender support and education about transgender issues around the country, “I AM: Trans People Speak” was developed. GLAAD has partnered with MTPC on the production, outreach and the communications around the campaign.
The video series and written testimonials illuminate the realities and challenges of being transgender. Those participating in the campaign will discuss their experiences in their communities, workplaces and families, as well as their thoughts on the current state of transgender awareness and equality.
To submit videos or learn more about the project, visit http://www.glaad.org/
About MTPC
Founded in 2001, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is a 501(c) 3 that works to end discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. MTPC educates the public, advocates with state, local, and federal government, engages in political activism, and encourages empowerment of community members through collective action.
About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) amplifies the voice of the LGBT community by empowering real people to share their stories, holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively. By ensuring that the stories of LGBT people are heard through the media, GLAAD promotes understanding, increases acceptance, and advances equality. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org or connect with GLAAD at www.glaad.org/connect.