Mycroft Masada is a nonbinary trans and queer Jewish leader with 30 years of experience who moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland (Montgomery County near Washington DC) from their lifelong home of Boston in 2014. A TransEpiscopal Steering Committee member and former Congregation Am Tikva board member, Mycroft is particularly called to pursue LGBTQ+ and fat justice, and is an advocate, organizer, consultant, educator, trainer, writer and artist. They are married to Julia McCrossin, the mas(s)culine fatshion blogger, and with her they co-parent a dogter. Their central online home is MasadArts.blogspot.com.


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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

UPDATE - TOMORROW's Action Day re: trans rights bill!

ICTE sent this message to our Facebook Group today:

UPDATE - TOMORROW's Action Day re: trans rights bill!

ICTE's previous Facebook Group message:

There's a three-part update:

1) Action Day will be snow-delayed for 1 hour -- it will start at 12:00 noon, not 11:00 a.m. It will still end at 2:00 p.m.

2) Our opponents have already started calling and emailing the Statehouse. So we need you to call and email your legislators TODAY. And let MTPC know how it went.

3) There will be a reception for Action Day attendees tomorrow afternoon. Hosted by The Crossing at the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul (where Boston Transgender Day of
Remembrance was). More information asap.

More details about today and tomorrow in today's MTPC enewsletter:

See -- and/or hear and/or read -- you tomorrow!

Best wishes for the snow,
Mycroft Masada Holmes
Chair, ICTE


Saturday, January 22, 2011

First Event (transgender conference)

First Event is an annual regional transgender conference, organized by the Tiffany Club of New England -- http://tcne.org/?page_id=20.

For the second year in a row, my fellow ICTEr Rev. Cameron Partridge and I co-facilitated a workshop about transgender and faith. Cameron also facilitated a workshop about Michael Dillon / Lobzang Jivaka (an early trans and faith pioneer whose memoir Cameron has been working with), which I attended most of.

Our workshops:

Transgender Faith, Spirituality & Religion
Mycroft Masada Holmes
Saturday, January 22, 11:00 am
Constitution Room

Many transgender people and allies are people of faith, and members of faith communities.
Many faith communities welcome us, and support our equality; more all the time. Yet our
relationship with religion has been very painful, and much change is still needed. How do we explore and practice spirituality? Make faith communities welcoming? Partner with people of faith to work for transgender social justice? Share your experiences, thoughts and questions!

Michael Dillon / Lobzang Jivaka and Trans Narrative Practices
Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge
Saturday, January 22, 2:00 pm
Constitution Room

Michael Dillon / Lobzang Jivaka (1915 - 1962) is chiefly known for three inter-related contributions to contemporary trans communities and studies. First, he is known as the first person to have “fully” medically transitioned from female to male, a process he engaged between 1939-1949. Second, his 1946 book Self is identified as one of the earliest sources for the “trapped in the wrong body” trans narrative pattern. Finally, he is seen as a pioneer, particularly to transmen. Equally important, but unacknowledged, is the importance of theological reflection and spiritual practice to his transition and vocation.

Having grown up in the Church of England, Dillon was a serious student of theology and
philosophy and considered ordination as an Anglican deaconess before becoming a physician in the merchant navy. Ultimately he traveled away from both his faith and country of origin, framing his everyday struggles and the life narrative he finally composed as an ongoing process of spiritual wrestling and transformation.

This lifelong process led him to India in 1958, where he became a Buddhist, took on the name Jivaka, gave up all his possessions, wrote about Buddhism for Western audiences, and died suddenly in 1962 as a monastic novice in the Mahayana branch of Buddhism.

This workshop includes an overview of Dillon/Jivaka’s life, readings from his memoir Out of the Ordinary, which the workshop leader is currently co-editing for publication, and an opportunity for the gathered group to reflect upon questions and intersections of trans narrativity and spirituality in their own lives.

What role, if any, do/have writings of trans forbears play(ed) in your own reflection and discernment about gender and embodiment? What role, if any, have narratives — or particular images or categories -- generated by religious, spiritual, or philosophical traditions played in your life thus far? With what sorts of narratives — how coherent or incoherent, in what sorts of conversation with religious, philosophical and/or spiritual traditions, and/or in what sorts of conversation with our trans forbears — do we choose to make sense of our bodies and lives?

Our bios:

Mycroft Masada Holmes is a transgender leader specializing in faith, religion and spirituality. Mycroft is Chair of the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality, Chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition's Training Committee, Emeritus Founding Chair of Keshet's Transgender Working Group (TWiG), and a board member of Congregation Am Tikva. Mycroft is also especially interested in fat / size acceptance.

Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge is a scholar of religion and gender/sexuality studies and an Episcopal priest. He is currently serving as interim Episcopal Chaplain and Lecturer at Harvard. Among his current projects is the co-editing and publication of Michael Dillon / Lobzang Jivaka’s c. 1962 memoir Out of the Ordinary.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Action Day for MA trans rights bill - next Thursday the 27th!

ICTE sent this message to our Facebook Group today:

Hello and happy 2011!

The Massachusetts Transgender Equal Rights Bill is being refiled this month. To pass it into law this year, we need your support.

MTPC is organizing a Transgender Equal Rights Action Day -- NEXT THURSDAY, January 27th, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Massachusetts State House, Room 167. A week from today!

We need you, transgender people and allies, to ask your legislators to co-sponsor the Transgender Equal Rights Bill.

You can arrive any time between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Come to Room 167 and pick up materials about the bill to bring to your State Representative's and Senator's offices. Go to your Rep's and Senator's offices and ask to speak with someone. After your meeting, return to Room 167 to give your completed legislator meeting form to MTPC.

If you can't arrive before 2:00 p.m., but can before 5:00 p.m., emailgscott@masstpc.org and MTPC will make arrangements with you.

If you can't attend at at all, please call your legislators that day:

Facebook event:

Blog entry / press release on the MTPC site:

Page on the MPTC site:
http://www.masstpc.org/legislation/actionday2011.shtml

There isn't a specific faith piece because there isn't a program. But as always, we particularly encourage people of faith to participate, and we ask that clergy and lay leaders come vested and/or wearing other faith flair. I will be there and flaired, and look forward to seeing many of you.

ICTE is planning an awesome 2011 faith campaign for the bill with MTPC and MassEquality, so stay tuned...

Thank you for your support!

Best wishes for your 2011,
Mycroft Masada Holmes
Chair, ICTE