“After reading the article in Out Magazine, a few trans leaders, including representatives from the Transgender Law Center, Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project, Transgender Legal Defense, and Education Fund and The TransLatin@ Coalition, gathered to discuss our concerns. We made the difficult decision to draft this open letter because trans people have worked hard to build an infrastructure to support our movement, and we saw that work being dangerously invisibilized in the way HRC composed its plan and rolled out the announcement. For the biggest LGBT organization in the world to ignore hard-won existing trans movement infrastructure and leadership – and claim to speak for us – threatens our ability to maintain a strong trans-led movement for liberation. Under Alphonso David’s leadership, we see a new willingness from HRC to prioritize trans people of color. Our letter is an invitation for HRC to do so in partnership with us – rather than for us.”

MTPC is proud to join with our fellow trans-focused and trans-led organizations in sending HRC this message.

Read the full letter here.

A bill pending in the State Legislature (H.3664/S.2203) would allow residents to choose a non-binary ‘X’ gender marker on driver’s licenses, birth certificates or other state-issued ID. A hearing on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday Sept. 10th at 10:30am in Gardner Auditorium at the Statehouse.

Many thanks to all the volunteers and advocates who pressed for this hearing! There is a short turn around for the hearing, so Here’s what you can do now:

• Submit testimony: Write a short statement about why you support Massachusetts residents having the option to designate ‘X’ on their IDs rather than ‘Male’ or ‘Female’. Send that to Tre’Andre Valentine at TreAndreValentine@masstpc.org or by snail mail to: MTPC, PO Box 960784, Boston, MA 02196. MTPC will submit a packet of testimonials to the joint committee at the hearing. Please make sure your testimony is in by Monday Sept. 9th by 9pm.
• Attend the hearing simply to be counted among those who care about this issue. We need people to show up.
• Present oral testimony: Sign up to testify for up to 3 minutes by contacting Rep. Domb’s office at: Mindy.Domb@mahouse.gov or (617) 722-2400 or simply show up to the hearing, sign-in and register the day of
• Contact members of the  Joint Committee for State Administration and Regulatory Oversight encouraging them to report the bill favorably out of committee. Joint committees have both senators and representatives, but the priority now is to contact the Representatives on the committee.

Today’s news that the Supreme Court will lift an existing injunction and allow the military to actively pursue discriminatory policies against thousands of trans and nonbinary people serving, or seeking to serve, is a cruel slap in the face to our communities. Trans and nonbinary service members simply want to do the jobs they have been trained and tasked to do, and this decision from the Supreme Court will likely hold them back from doing just that. Those seeking to enlist and serve want only to be afforded the same opportunities, and held to the same standards as their cisgender peers. Trans and nonbinary veterans deserve the same honor and respect as others who have served.

This administration’s ban on trans people serving in the military is groundless: there is no evidence that trans people disrupt military effectiveness or threaten unit cohesion. Removing trans and nonbinary service members, however, will mean losing thousands of qualified and trained service members, and have a long term negative effect – for those serving, and for the armed forces as a whole. Regardless of our skepticism or opinions about the military, or critiques of the military-industrial complex, no one should be denied a job, or public service, based on their gender identity or expression. No one should be held back in their career or goals because of discriminatory, biased, and baseless policies.     

Hi everyone, my name is Kelsey Grunstra, I use she/her pronouns, and I’m MTPC’s new Operations Coordinator! Before I get into too much detail about me, let me tell you what I’ll be doing with MTPC. My mission is the same as Mason’s and MTPC’s as a whole, to end oppression and discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression, but my day-to-day work will mostly look like answering your emails and phone calls, running our newsletter and social media accounts, working on events and trainings, and generally helping out Mason so he can keep doing the great work he’s up to! I’m so excited to join MTPC and get to work for and with all of you, our beautiful community.

As for how I got here, It’s been an interesting few years for myself (and, well, all of us I suppose) and things have been changing pretty constantly in my life. Ever since I first came out and began transitioning, I’ve consistently become more and more driven to be directly engaged in work that uplifts and supports the trans community. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’ve had a lot of privilege in my life, and this commitment has really come from my desire to utilize that privilege to build up and advocate for our community. Almost exactly one year ago at the 2017 Harvard LGBTQ Conference, I was just standing around waiting for Mara Keisling’s (the Founder and Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality) keynote to start when none other than Mara herself came over and introduced herself to my friends and I. She just wanted to meet us and have some casual conversation to avoid thinking about the fact that she’d be speaking in just a few minutes. I’ve been inspired by her work, her dedication, and her resilience for many years now but that was really the moment I knew I could go into advocacy work. Seeing one of my role models struggling with the normal things I encounter all the time, ultimately I realized, you don’t have to be anything special or unique to be a dedicated and empowered leader, you just need to be driven, full of passion and empathy, listen to those around you, and lift up the voices and people who can do what you can’t (after of course accepting that you cannot!).

So now fast forward about a year and I’m chatting with one of the MTPC Steering Committee members who knew I was looking for work and they suggested that I take a look at this role. It just so happened to fit in perfectly with my schedule and what I was looking for! So then I met with Mason and some more Steering Committee members and that’s the short and sweet version of what brought me to MTPC and how I became engaged in advocacy work for the trans community.

Outside of this space, I work and live in Somerville with four amazing roommates and my many, many guitars. I’m a musician who often struggles to answer the question “What do you play?” because of the many instruments and styles of music I’m often bouncing between. I hope to someday soon record some music and maybe even get a band together with some of my friends. When I’m not playing music, I can reliably be found tinkering with my instruments or building new ones (to highly varying levels of completion and quality!), reading fiction or comic books, hanging out at the nearest coffee shop, or nerding out over the latest sci-fi TV series. I do however also love spending time outdoors, whether just on a long walk, going on a strenuous hike, or spending a day at the beach.

With all that said, I’m very, very excited to get started and do what I can to help MTPC be effective and grow. I also can’t wait to get to know you, our community, better, and be I hope to see you at some of our future events. Please feel free to get in touch with me and introduce yourself by emailing me at kelsey@masstpc.org!

Yours,
Kelsey Grunstra