THE FAIRNESS FOR ALL MARYLANDERS ACT PASSED TODAY!

THE FAIRNESS FOR ALL MARYLANDERS ACT PASSED TODAY!

I’ve always lived in Massachusetts, and have been one of the leaders of the faith campaign for MA’s trans rights bills.  I moved to MD at the end of January to begin living with my partner Julia McCrossin, a lifelong MD (and DC) resident. 

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Mycroft-

We did it! After years of hard work, today the Maryland House of Delegates passed SB 212: Fairness for All Marylanders Act by a 82-57 vote, finally adding much-needed protections for transgender Marylanders to our state's anti-discrimination law.

Victory today would not have happened without the work of countless people - transgender people sharing their stories and organizing, community leaders, partner organizations and allies - and YOU. We knew this year could be different, starting with momentum on our side. Our work over the past few months and the groundwork laid by so many over the years made the difference. This is truly a community win. 

Equality Maryland has proudly worked with the Maryland Coalition for Transgender Equality to advance equal rights for our transgender community. See the full statement from the coalition below and click here to see how your legislators voted, and to thank supporters and hold opponents accountable.

We'll keep you updated on our next steps. For now, let's celebrate.

Fairness has won the day.

 

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March 27, 2014

ANNAPOLIS- In a big win for transgender equality in Maryland, today the Maryland House of Delegates passed SB 212: Fairness for All Marylanders Act with a vote of 82-57. The bill, passed by the Senate earlier this session in an overwhelming 32-15 vote, updates Maryland’s anti-discrimination law to include transgender people. This ensures that everyone is free to work for a living, secure housing, and get served lunch at a restaurant regardless of gender identity.

The Maryland Coalition for Transgender Equality, a coalition of more than 50 organizations and individuals working to advance equality for transgender Marylanders, hailed the victory as the culmination of many years of work by the transgender community and allies. The Coalition praised the bill's lead sponsors Senator Rich Madaleno and Delegate Luke Clippinger for their hard work and thanked them for their leadership.

“I am proud of my 81 colleagues who voted in support of fairness for transgender Marylanders today. Allowing people to earn a living and live without fear of discrimination is the right thing to do,” said House sponsor Delegate Luke Clippinger.

Carrie Evans, Executive Director of Equality Maryland, the state’s civil rights organization for LGBT Marylanders comments on Senate Bill 212’s passage, “This is the culmination of a very long and sustained effort by Equality Maryland to ensure transgender Marylanders are included in our state’s anti-discrimination laws.  Today’s win is the result of so many people and organizations – transgender individuals and their families showing up and telling their stories year after year, elected officials like Senator Rich Madaleno and Delegates Luke Clippinger, Bonnie Cullison and Joseline Peña-Melynk , many years of dedicated and committed Equality Maryland Board and staff, amazing coalition partners like the Human Rights Campaign and so many more people and organizations that we will highlight in the coming months.”

SB 212 now heads to Governor O’Malley's desk, who stated at MCTE's Lobby Day last month, "I am waiting to sign it."

"After more than 15 years of advocacy for trans Marylanders, the tremendous work by all of our legislative champions, and the solid support of the leadership in Annapolis, history was made today. The House of Delegates sent the same loud and clear message the Maryland Senate did: Every Marylander deserves equal rights under the law. We welcome the Governor’s promised signature and the full and successful implementation of this bill," said Jenna Fischetti of TransMaryland, an MCTE coalition member.

“Today the Maryland legislature lived up to its reputation as a fair and just body and rightly recognized that everyone should be treated equally, including transgender Marylanders,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin.  “Being free from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is what makes America work.”

The passage of SB 212 will give transgender Marylanders recourse for discrimination experienced in employment, credit, housing and public places like restaurants and movie theaters.

“Today is a historic day for the great state of Maryland.  While the discrimination against people based on their gender identity has certainly not seen its last day, we now have the tool we need in Maryland, to fight back against discrimination when it occurs,” said Aaron Merki, Executive Director of FreeState Legal Project.

"It is clear that community and legislators are aligned in providing protections for all Marylanders including those who are transgender. Passing SB 212 will help ensure that transgender people have the same opportunities in employment, housing, and safe public spaces,” said Vann Michael of Black Transmen, Inc. "Passing SB 212 is naturally the next step for Maryland's legislators to demonstrate their commitment to all residents of the state and be a national leader for legislative bodies on how to equally support the full transgender community."
 
A recent Goucher poll found that 71% of Marylanders supported updating Maryland’s anti-discrimination laws to include transgender people. A broad array of organizations and individuals have shown support for transgender rights in Maryland, from faith communities to feminist organizations and civil rights groups.

“The Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland has joined with the other members of Maryland Coalition for Transgender Equality to work for passage of the Fairness for All Marylanders Act in support of our transgender members, friends and family throughout the state,” said Reverend Diane Teichert, GLBT Issues Coordinator of UULM-MD and Minister of Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church in Adelphi.

When SB 212 is signed into law, Maryland will join 17 states and the District of Columbia in enacting anti-discrimination protections for transgender people. 5 jurisdictions in Maryland already include transgender people in anti local anti-discrimination laws: Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery Counties, Baltimore City and Hyattsville.

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Equality Maryland
(phone) 410-685-6567 (fax) 410-685-5229 info@equalitymaryland.org
1201 S. Sharp Street, Suite 109, Baltimore, MD 21230

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Lenten Morning of Meditation

My Julia is the big beautiful one walking the labyrinth on the far left; the photo is by our priest, Rev. Randy.

This morning we attended the Lenten Morning of Meditation at our church, Episcopal Church of the Ascension.

It was organized and led by our priest, Rev. Randy, who required a minimum of ten participants to RSVP (yes, a minyan, and we were the last two) but also welcomed drop-ins, and we were joined by a few people after we began.  We began at nine with some social time and refreshments, then sat and more formally introduced ourselves.  Randy explained the plan for the day and gave us two brochures about labyrinths, Ascension’s and the Hallowood Retreat & Conference Center's (Comus MD) – the text of the former appears here and draws on Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress’ Walking A Sacred Path : Rediscovering The Labyrinth As A Spiritual Tool.  Our labyrinth was custom-made for us by The Labyrinth Company of Baltimore; it's canvas and can also be used outdoors, and is based on Chartres Cathedral's floor one (France).

We remained in our chairs to meditate in whatever sense we wished until we were ready to enter the labyrinth, though we needn’t enter it at all.  We were welcome to walk in the way(s) best for us – in relationship with our fellow walkers – and however many times we were willing and able in the allotted time.

We also had the option of a lap-size labyrinth, about a foot and a half in diameter and an inch thick in something like resin made to seem like wood, which one usually "walks" with one's finger(s); we both walked this too.

Now, although I appreciate labyrinths and our church's ability to possess our own, today reminded me of how they are problematic, especially in their physical accessibility issues -- that is, they can be difficult or impossible for those with disabled, fat, and other non-normative bodies and mobilities.  Particularly when they are the small size and narrow design of ours.  It would be good if this was acknowledged before and at programming that includes labyrinth use -- indeed, this could be a valuable part of the program.  The lap labyrinth does help with this problem, though it also needs help to be most helpful.

At the same time, we had good experiences of the labyrinth and the rest of the day -- and I don't think I'll surprise anyone by saying I was primarily using the labyrinth and the rest as a tool in my discernment process around my new life here in MD (I've always lived in Boston MA, and moved here at the end of January to begin living with Julia, who's always lived here).  We haven't taken much advantage of our past labyrinth access, and now we are inspired for the future.  I want to add more about the specifics of my experience of today's walks and the rest, but there is also something about that being private.  

On a related note, today also reminded me that we don't have any labyrinths of our own and would like to.  I'll probably begin by making myself some jewelry (always a good way to start, don't you think? ; > ), and begin that with labyrinth charms from TierraCast (page 21; they come in silver, copper and gold in two sizes) -- they're wholesale only, but here's an Etsy search I've been doing that includes them (as well as a lot of things inspired by the movie, which I couldn't get all the way through when I tried to watch it for the first time a few years ago, sorry).  I can also include labyrinths in my more out-going artwork, which is primarily stationery.  Perhaps something to include if I participate in Ascension's holiday bazaar.

When we were each ready, we walked from the chapel building to the sanctuary of the main building and gathered in the pews to process the first half of the day with Randy.

We then counted ourselves off by ones and twos, and the two groups went to two rooms on two floors for the same activity.  My group of Twos was led by Randy; we used the African / Lambeth Bible study method (given by the African delegation at the Lambeth Conference in 2008) to experience the Common English Bible version of John 4:5-42, the story of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.

"He came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, which was near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his journey, so he sat down at the well. It was about noon.  A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Jesus said to her, 'Give me some water to drink.'"

This study was especially helpful to me as I reflected on my and Julia's workday at the Maryland statehouse this past Thursday -- while lobbying for the Fairness For All Marylanders Act, MD's trans equal rights bill, we had some very challenging conversations with legislators.  I'd heard about this Bible study method but hadn't participated in it; Ascension has been using it for vestry meetings and otherwise to great effect.  The instruction side of the handout read:

"This Bible study method was introduced at the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of bishops of the Anglican Communion.

Opening Prayer:  O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. One person reads passage slowly.
2. Each person identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention (1 minute).
3. Each shares the word or phrase around the group (3-5 minutes, NO DISCUSSION).
4. Another person reads the passage slowly (from a different translation if possible).
5. Each person identifies where this passage touches their life today (1 minute).
6. Each shares (3-5 minutes, NO DISCUSSION).
7. Passage is read a third time (another reader and translation if possible).
8. Each person names or writes ”From what I’ve heard and shared, what do I believe God wants me to  do or be? Is God inviting me to change in any way?” (5 minutes)
9. Each person shares their answer (5-10 minutes, NO DISCUSSION).
10. Each prays for the person on their right, naming what was shared in the other steps (5 minutes).

Close with the Lord’s Prayer and SILENCE."

As planned, we ended at noon, and regrouped in the chapel for some optional final socializing and refreshmenting as we collected our things and left.

The most interesting thing about the breakout room my group was in – which I hadn’t seen before and is one of those used for our Sunday school – was a poster of Bohdan Piasecki's "Last Supper" painting.  Commissioned in 1998 by Brothers And Sisters In Christ (BASIC), which merged with We Are Church Ireland in 2012, it restores the Jewishness, women and children, and other significant aspects to the scene.

Fairness For All Marylanders Act - today & this Weekend Of Action

I spent the workday at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, where my partner Julia McCrossin and I delivered supportive materials about MD's trans rights bill, the Fairness for All Marylanders Act (#FAMA14), to all 147 House delegates. As part of the Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality campaign, we worked with Equality Maryland staff and volunteers to deliver a cover letter highlighting the 71% support for the bill, a myth and fact sheet, a letter about the online petition signatures, and the constituent postcards.

And this weekend is a Weekend Of Action for the bill, especially in Baltimore and Takoma Park, so check that out too. The opposition has been making a lot of legislator contact, and the session ends at the end of the month, so they really need to hear from supporters!

Adipositivity's first print sale!

Adipositivity is finally having its first print sale (Facebook, website; NSFW)! But only through the end of the month! Adiposers and their social media fans (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr) get a 20% discount through this Sunday the 23rd! 

And my partner Julia McCrossin's and my Adipose is included (#327/346) -- click here to see it in the sale (NSFW).  We Posed in New York in May of 2010 and were published on Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 -- usually Posers are individual fat women, but every February 1st though 14th there's a Valentines celebration of couples of many kinds where at least one partner is fat.  

So fatten up your wall(s), and/or whatever else you want!

Fairness For All Marylanders Ash Wednesday

My faith flair and stickers from today's hearing – all of which I wore to church as well.  The rainbow magen David pin was a gift from my cousin Andy in California many years ago, the silver charm I bought in Mexico City in 2003; the brass Jerusalem Cross / “Pilgrim” medallion was a gift to  participants at the Washington National Cathedral’s Epiphany retreat I went to in 2011 (while Julia was working there; the other side says "Thou art the journey and the journey's end / Washington National Cathedral"), the Episcopal Church shield pin I bought at the Cathedral’s gift shop with J.

“For all false judgments, 
For uncharitable thoughts towards our neighbors, 
And for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us,
Accept our repentance, Lord.”

-- Episcopal Church’s Litany of Penance (Book of Common Prayer)

What an extraordinary day.  “Intense and wondrous”, as a colleague commented on my Facebook post about it.

My partner Julia McCrossin and I testified at the Fairness for All Marylanders Act’s House hearing and attended our first Ash Wednesday service.

The Fairness for All Marylanders Act (FAMA, Senate Bill 212 / House Bill 1265; #FAMA14) would update the state’s anti-discrimination laws to  include gender identity and therefore transgender and gender non-conforming people.  This has been the bill's best legislative session yet, and this really seems like the year it could pass!  

I’ve always lived in Massachusetts, and have been one of the leaders of the faith campaign for MA’s trans rights bills.  I moved to Maryland in January to begin living with Julia, a lifelong MD (and DC) resident.

FAMA was passed by the Senate yesterday!  The next step towards passage into law was its House hearing today, before the Health and Government Operations Committee.  We had submitted written testimony in the form of letters through Equality Maryland -- lead member of the MD Coalition for Trans Equality -- and they asked us to testify orally as part of the several themed panels of supporters they were planning.  Click here for more about MD’s bill and our experience thereof – including our written testimonies.

We actually tried to receive our ashes before the hearing, but alas, the scheduling didn’t seem to quite work – the Episcopal Church was doing “ashes-to-go” at a few of our local Metro stations, they and other local churches were offering a few services each, and there was the EC right near the Statehouse (St. Anne's), but they all seemed too early or late for us.  At least if we were going to attend the whole service – that is, if it wasn’t ashes-to-go, we didn’t want to…ash and dash?  Is that the equivalent of “chew and screw”?  Too, what about the ashes washing off when we showered etc.?  If we ashed before we physically readied for the hearing.

We drove to Annapolis only to find all three parking lots full and little hope of street parking – but there was plenty of space left at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium lot, and the parking attendant was quite friendly because she appreciated that we had actually read and followed the directions on her sign.  We’d just missed the tourist trolley, but another one came in a few minutes.  And maybe this was at least a little bashert, because there was a Blue Angels plane on display, and I had time to photograph it for my father Bill Wasserman, who flew with them as a photographer when he was in the Navy from 1960 – 2.  (We also found a gold tie clip with the image of a gramophone, which I haven't found through Google.)

We arrived at the Statehouse with time to spare because the full House session had run over.  We checked in with some of the MCTE leadership and our fellow panelists, pulled ourselves together, and found seats together in the hearing room.  We the bill’s supporters had two panels of legislators and other politicians, then one of trans people, myself included; the testimony table had four chairs and three microphones, so four trans women went first, then Equality Maryland’s Director of Advocacy and Programs Keith Thirion and I took our turn.  Then there was a panel of trans people’s family members, which Julia was a part of, in addition to identifying herself as someone with a gender non-conforming expression.  The supportive panels continued for several more, and were all quite impressive, including their responses to the Committee’s questions.  

A particular highlight – and reason the parts of the day felt such a whole – was that the one person I knew from before my move was my trans faith colleague Donna Cartwright, co-chair of TransEpiscopal, of which I’m a member; she testified on the Labor-themed panel, representing Pride At Work.  And Julia had met her at a TransFaith event in Maryland in January.  

Then the opposition presented a few panels…oy gevalt.  Let’s just say, for now, that I’m glad the person sitting on my other side gave Julia and I a trigger warning before they began.  It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before (especially at the MA bills’ hearings) or expected to hear, or couldn’t handle, but even so.  It wasn’t anything anyone should have to hear – or feel they have to say.  But that’s the thing – if nothing else, the opposition panelists made it clear to even some of the opposition legislators that they were saying things that shouldn’t be said.  

We were the first bill of eight, and our bill’s part was all of a piece with no breaks and took a little over three hours.  And for the most part it was all quite well done.  And thus I must say, that although I know that Maryland’s process has its problems -- including some of which I’m not yet aware -- compared to Massachusetts’ meshugaas it’s a beautiful thing!  If this was MA, we’d almost certainly have missed the rest of Ash Wednesday, and been lucky to get home in time for bed – no matter where we lived in relation to the Statehouse.    

We checked out with a similar group of people – including getting a sense of the bill’s next steps and the opportunities to volunteer therein, pulled ourselves together again, and went out to wait for the trolley.  While at the Statehouse complex stop with several strangers, we were approached by someone presenting as an older, conservative, petite white woman dressed for business – she identified herself as a Statehouse employee who had been in the hearing room or listening to / watching the broadcast, thanked us a few times for our work and bravery, apologized for the opposition testimony, assured us they didn’t represent everyone, and wished us good luck with the bill.

Click here for audio and/or video of the hearing (House Video --> House and Government Operations --> Wednesday, March 5, 2014 Session #1 --> play button).

Even with some rush hour traffic, we were home in time for dinner and a little more work and rest.  And then it was off to the Episcopal Church of the Ascension’s Holy Eucharist and Imposition of Ashes (7:30 p.m. edition);  Julia has been attending since July, and I’ve attended with her a few times during my visits.  Somehow neither of us had been to an Ash Wednesday service or other observance before – we very much liked this one, and I was very pleasantly surprised by how much it was like Yom Kippur and the rest of the Jewish high holiydays.  Indeed, the priest used “mensch” in his sermon (and tends to make other good Jewish references).    

And in another bashert moment, I realized that I was sitting at the window that looked out onto the church’s columbarium* wall and its attending angel – my mother and her parents, from the Episcopalian side of the family, were all cremated (*Julia actually taught me that word when I mentioned this).

And as I mentioned, we wore the day's outfits and stickers to church.  Click here for the PDF of the Service Bulletin.  

The cantor, choir, Rev. Randy Lord-Wilkinson, and a few of our fellow congregants (out of the few dozen that were there) just after processing in and taking their places at the start of the service.

    

Fairness for All Marylanders Act – MD trans rights bill

My sticker from FAMA’s Lobby Day on Monday February 17th.  

The Fairness for All Marylanders Act (FAMA, Senate Bill 212 / House Bill 1265; #FAMA14) would update the state’s anti-discrimination laws to  include gender identity and therefore transgender and gender non-conforming people; click here for FAMA’s legislative fact sheet.  The campaign is being organized by the Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality (MCTE).  This has been the bill's best legislative session yet, and this really seems like the year it could pass!    

I’ve always lived in Massachusetts, and have been one of the leaders of the faith campaign for MA’s Trans Equal Rights Law, passed in November 2011, and its Trans Equal Access Bill (An Act Relative to Equal Access in Hospitals, Public Transportation, Nursing Homes, Supermarkets, Retail Establishments, and all other places open to the public, HB 1589 / SB 643), currently in progress.  I moved to Maryland in January to begin living with my partner, Julia McCrossin, a lifelong MD resident.  It’s been very interesting to contrast and compare the MA and MD legislative processes!    

Julia and I have been following and supporting MD’s bill for a while.  Our first in-person event was its Lobby Day on February 17th (Facebook event, photos) – we joined a pretty diverse group of at least a couple of hundred other supporters in Annapolis for an hour-long sunset rally on the Lawyer’s Mall, with speeches from MD Coalition for Trans Equality leadership including Equality Maryland, legislators and other politicians – including the governor!, and others -- including the mother of a trans woman of color who recovered from an almost fatal transphobic assault.  And there was a faith community presence, especially from the Unitarian Universalists.  Then a member of the trans community guided us and the other residents of Montgomery County’s District 17 (including several University of Maryland (College Park) students) to and through meetings with all four of our legislators, all of whom support FAMA.  It was almost too cold, especially after dark, because it was unseasonable (just above freezing) – but it was beautiful in all senses.  J and I gave a round-trip ride to another couple who needed one, and had dinner out with them after the event – we didn’t know them, but they turned out to be the perfect double date for us.

FAMA had a Senate hearing on February 4th,  was voted out and on with a favorable report by the Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee on February 20th, was read and debated by Senate last Thursday and Friday, February 27th and 28th – and has a final Senate vote TOMORROW Tuesday March 4th (Shrove Tuesday) -- click here to contact your senators (even if they're supportive)!  

FAMA’s next House step is its hearing before the House’s Health and Government Operations Committee THIS WEDNESDAY March 5th (Ash Wednesday)!

Please spread the word (#FAMA14), contact your legislators even if they're supportive, submit your testimony, attend, etc.!  Here are my and my partner's testimonies:

March 5, 2014

Dear Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee,

My name is Mycroft Masada Holmes, and in January I moved to Gaithersburg from Boston, Massachusetts, where I was born and have always lived.

I write to you today primarily as a faith leader – Chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition’s Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality, a Community Engagement Adviser at TransFaith, and a member of Congregation Am Tikva and TransEpiscopal.  I’ve been one of the leaders of the faith campaign for Massachusetts’ Trans Equal Rights Law, passed in November 2011, and its Trans Equal Access Bill (HB 1589 / SB 643), currently in progress.

Today I am testifying in support of Maryland’s Fairness for All Marylanders Act (FAMA), Senate Bill 212 / House Bill 1265, which would update the state’s anti-discrimination laws to  include gender identity and therefore transgender and gender non-conforming people.

Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to work in criminal justice. After public school in the Boston suburbs of Brookline and Newton, I attended the city’s Northeastern University as a Criminal Justice major.  The university was supportive, but classes, campus life and housing were very challenging as the university’s first out transgender student.  After my sophomore year, I tried to participate in the cooperative education program -- students are placed in jobs in their majors during their next three years of school, helping them pay tuition and living expenses and find employment in their field after graduation.  The co-op department was supportive, but the employers wouldn’t even communicate with me, never mind interview or hire me.  Because I was trans, I was the only one of the 200 criminal justice students who wasn’t placed in a job.  Without the financial support and experience of co-op, I had to leave Northeastern.

It was devastating to learn that I couldn’t pursue my dream because I was trans, and that I had no legal recourse. The day my co-op advisor called to tell me I couldn’t be placed, and the details of the discrimination, I finally understood what it meant to be a member of a group of citizens that don’t have civil rights. And I realized that my calling was to be a trans justice leader.  I’ve had a wonderful career, love my work, and have a bright future.  But very little of my career work has been or is paid, and I don’t know when that will change – I continue to need other paid work, and it remains very hard to find due to employment discrimination based on my gender identity and expression, leading to frequent underemployment and unemployment.  And I am otherwise unusually privileged – life is far more challenging for trans and GNC people with more intersecting oppressions, including racism, classism and ableism.

I left my lifelong home of Massachusetts and moved to Maryland to begin living with my beloved life partner of 4 ½ years, Julia McCrossin, largely so we could be close enough to help care for her disabled mother and our dog.  Julia is a native and lifelong resident of Maryland and Washington DC – the latter has had trans rights successfully for years – and is also gender non-conforming and challenged by discrimination.  We are privileged to live in Montgomery County, where we have trans-inclusive civil rights – but we worry about going to and through places where we are unprotected, which we often need and want to do, and which is more than half the state.  We and so many others need FAMA to pass into law, and as soon as possible.

I want my family, and all families, to have full civil rights whenever we’re here, and wherever we are.  I want us to be able to continue to live, work and play better than we have done, contributing even more to our state than we have.  I want this for all residents of and visitors to Maryland.  I don’t want anyone to experience discrimination – and yet I know that some will, and I want them to be able to take appropriate action.

I urge you to do everything you can to further this vital and long overdue legislation so that it can be passed into law this legislative session.

Thank you,

Mycroft Holmes
{home and e-mail addresses}

Cc: Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality (MCTE)
Senator Jennie M. Forehand (jennie.forehand@senate.state.md.us)
Delegate Kumar P. Barve (Majority Leader; kumar.barve@house.state.md.us)
Delegate Jim Gilchrist (jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us)
Delegate Luiz R. S. Simmons (luiz.simmons@house.state.md.us)

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March 3, 2014

Dear Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee:

I write to you as an almost lifetime resident of the great state of Maryland, having spent about 39 of my 43 years living in Montgomery or Baltimore Counties.  My few years apart from Maryland landed me in an apartment in Washington, DC, less than 1 mile from the state border at downtown Silver Spring.  To say that I am deeply a part of the fabric of Maryland life is an understatement, as I am able to trace my ancestry on my father’s side back to the 18th century in Montgomery County.  There is even a street in Montgomery County named for one of my ancestors, who migrated to the farmland of Maryland from Ireland at a time where the Irish ‘need not apply,’ and yet he found a refuge in Maryland.  In addition, I’ve been blessed to have received most of my education from Maryland public schools, having attended Montgomery County Public Schools from Head Start through High School graduation, and attending Montgomery College and The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), where I graduated cum laude in 2004.  This exemplary education allowed me to earn 2 graduate degrees from The George Washington University, as well.

I mention this at length to show that in spite of my educational background provided to me by a public educational system consistently ranked as the best in the United States, I still struggle to find employment that provides a living wage, let alone a wage that is commensurate with my educational attainments.  This happens not because of my credentials or my skills, but because of how I look.  I have no problem finding employment in the low paying service sector, where my intelligence, empathy, and dedication have served pet owners and book lovers well in my many years of retail/pet care employment, and my appearance means little in these industries that struggle to locate and retain good employees.  However, I have had little luck in cracking the white collar world, despite one undergraduate and two graduate degrees.

As a gender nonconforming individual, my appearance is the only thing that sets me apart from my better employed and compensated peers from high school and college.  My partner, who is transgender and comes from a similar background of educational excellence in Massachusetts, is in the same predicament, and has been so for years.  I was sure that returning to school to earn college degrees, as has been suggested as the best way to adapt to the current lengthy economic downturn, would be able to lift me out of my working class existence and allow me to earn a living wage.  This has not been the case.  In fact, now I am almost $50,000 in debt, unemployed, and living off the generosity of my retired, disabled mother.  I fear that because of the discrimination that transgender and gender nonconforming people experience in Maryland and most other places, that I’ll never be able to afford the kind of middle class life that my parents were able to build in Montgomery County as public sector workers without college degrees.

I am proud to have been raised in Maryland, and as a scholar of American literature and culture, I am proud of the tradition of outsider, nonconformist, and social justice figures in Maryland history.  Writers and abolitionists like Frederick Douglass and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, creative geniuses like John Waters and John Barth, women unafraid to break down barriers like Billie Holiday and Mama Cass Elliott, and many other figures in Maryland history have helped shape its image as a place of refuge and support for the outsider and the minority.  Our legacy as a colony supporting religious liberty in the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649, and our recent passage of the Civil Marriage Protection Act allowing for marriage equality for all loving and committed couples, demonstrates our enduring legacy as a place that genuinely strives to give all Marylanders the equality that allows them to perform at their best, and contribute to a better society.

I hope today you will vote for the passage of the Fairness for all Marylanders Act of 2014.  Let’s continue to place Maryland at the top of the list of places that promotes a just and egalitarian society for all, and a place that emphatically shuts the door on ignorance and discrimination against anyone different from ourselves.  Thank you for taking the time to read my letter, and for making me exuberantly proud to call myself a Marylander, because Maryland is a place that embodies the best principles of United States democracy.

Yours Truly,

Julia McCrossin
{home and e-mail addresses}

Cc: Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality (MCTE)
Senator Jennie M. Forehand (jennie.forehand@senate.state.md.us)
Delegate Kumar P. Barve (Majority Leader; kumar.barve@house.state.md.us)
Delegate Jim Gilchrist (jim.gilchrist@house.state.md.us)
Delegate Luiz R. S. Simmons (luiz.simmons@house.state.md.us)

Westminster Flabby

OMG. It’s even eerier than we thought.                                    
Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham (Downton Abbey) is on the left, Ursula, the Pugston Terrier (Westminster Flabby) is on the right…or is it the other way ‘round?

We finally came up with the perfect fat community name for our home -- largely (ha) thanks to Julia -- Westminster Flabby! Many thanks to our friends in the New England fat community and beyond for all the inspiration.

Happy Valentines Day 2014!

Happy Valentines Day 2014!

We are celebrating our 5th Valentines together and 1st one living together! 

Here are our Valentines from Julia’s mum (from a Little Debbie box). 

PolitiSIZE - NEW radio show - conversations about fat bodies

WBAI webpage | Website | Facebook | Twitter

HRC's George Washington University Alumni Reception

My partner Julia McCrossin is an alum of George Washington University – she graduated from GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and 2011 – and thus was invited to the Human Rights Campaign's 6th annual GW Alumni Reception tonight, and I was her guest.  This was actually the first GW alum event for both of us.  And our first queer event since we started living together – I’m a lifelong resident of metro Boston and Julia of metro DC, and after 4 ½ years of long-distance partnership, I moved to DC at the end of last month.  Due to my move I actually didn’t have an appropriate outfit unpacked yet – but this was a perfect excuse to visit the local Goodwill, where I was lucky enough to find the perfect things.  

This year’s topic was trans rights, which is largely what sold us.  

The event took place at HRC’s headquarters here in DC – the Equality Center.  Our efforts to make sure we were on time made us early, so we got to give ourselves a good tour of the space, which we hadn’t been to before.  Do you know they have their own custom bike racks on the sidewalk?  Versions of the HRC logo, and in the blue and yellow no less.

At 6:30 the cocktail reception began; we had some good conversation with Kimberly Acquaviva, Associate Professor and Director of Faculty Affairs at GW’s School of Nursing (1 of the 3 panelists), another queer woman professor, a trans woman alum, and a gay lawyer alum.  Mara Keisling, (founding) Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (another panelist) visited our table, and remembered me, which was nice -- we’ve been in the same spaces a few times, but I don’t know that we’ve actually met, at least not for quite a while.  

At 7:00 there was a panel discussion, including questions and answers, with Mara (this was a change from Lisa Mottet, NCTE’s Deputy Executive Director, but in this case it was a win-win), Kimberly, and Sterling Washington (CCAS '95), Director of the Mayor's Office of GLBT Affairs.  There were also remarks from alum Michael R. Komo (CCAS BA '11, GSPM MS '12) and current student Emily A. Smith (ESIA BA '15).     

A bit after 8:00 it was time for more networking, and we did a bit, but left fairly early because we were tired and it was something of a schlep to get home.  

There was a photographer, and I had our picture taken in front of the logo-ed wall provided for the occasion, but I can’t figure out if or where the pictures are posted.  I will ask when I post this.  

There were at least a few dozen attendees.  The event was free; we were encouraged to support GW’s LGBT Resource Center.  

CFP - Special Issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight & Society on Religion & Fat

CFP (Call For Proposals)

Special Issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society on Religion and Fat, guest edited by Lynne Gerber, Susan Hill and LeRhonda Manigault-Bryant.

This special issue of Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Body Weight and Society explores the relationship between religion and fat. The editors invite papers on a variety of topics that address, for example, how particular religious traditions engage the fat body, or how religions define, circumscribe and/or understand fatness. We seek to answer questions such as: How is the fat body read in religious ways? What kinds of socio-cultural spaces do religions offer fat people?

Potential topics might include, but are not limited to:

• Fat bodies as religious bodies
• The use of fat or fatness in religious texts
• Use of fat in theological discourse
• Fat in world religions
• Religious and/or moral dimensions of fat or fatness in popular culture
• Fat bodies and lived religion
• Religion and weight loss/weight gain
• The fat body as moral or immoral body in religious texts or objects

To be considered for inclusion in this special issue, please send a 200-250 word abstract and a current c.v. to Susan Hill (susan.hill@uni.edu) by March 31, 2014. Any questions about the topic can be directed to this e-mail, as well.

Final submissions should be between 3000-6000 words, including all notes and references. If you wish to include reproductions of visual images with your essay, you will need to receive permission to do so from the artists/copyright holders of the image(s). All authors will need to sign a form that transfers copyright of their article to the publisher, Taylor & Francis/Routledge.

Fat Studies is the first academic journal in the field of scholarship that critically examines theory, research, practices, and programs related to body weight and appearance. Content includes original research and overviews exploring the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability, and socioeconomic status. Articles critically examine representations of fat in health and medical sciences, the Health at Every Size model, the pharmaceutical industry, psychology, sociology, cultural studies, legal issues, literature, pedagogy, art, theater, popular culture, media studies, and activism.

Fat Studies is an interdisciplinary, international field of scholarship that critically examines societal attitudes and practices about body weight and appearance. Fat Studies advocates equality for all people regardless of body size. It explores the way fat people are oppressed, the reasons why, who benefits from that oppression and how to liberate fat people from oppression. Fat Studies seeks to challenge and remove the negative associations that society has about fat and the fat body. It regards weight, like height, as a human characteristic that varies widely across any population. Fat Studies is similar to academic disciplines that focus on race, ethnicity, gender, or age.

First Event 2014

This year’s First Event theme was “Who do you want to be when you grow up?"  When I grow up, I want to be someone who wears stoles and dragon jewelry and presents at conferences – so that’s going well.  
Alas, I forgot to ask about taking a picture of our panel. And we looked especially fabulous, too.
(And yes, that's an extra "s" in my nametag -- for...savings?)

First Event 2014 : Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? started this Wednesday, and ends tomorrow, at the Marriott in Peabody MA (on Boston’s North Shore).

I co-facilitated a workshop today with Bobbi Taylor and Raven Kaldera – “Gender, Self & Spiritual Community: Intertwined Narratives” – “How have our life stories of gender and spirituality been woven together…or come undone?  What does it mean to have a spiritual community that affirms diverse gender identities and presentations?  This will be an opportunity to share questions, experiences, inspiration and support, as well as learn how to connect with local and national trans faith work.”

Bobbi is a transgender activist living and working in the Boston area with formal training in Zen Buddhism, evangelical Christianity, and Paganism. In addition to being a housewife, spouse, and father, Bobbi is also a member of various committees of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, including the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality.

Raven is a Northern-Tradition Pagan shaman, herbalist, astrologer, FTM transgendered intersexual activist, homesteader, and founding member of the First Kingdom Church of Asphodel.

We had an hour and twenty minutes, and about a dozen people in attendance, plus a few more who left early.  Bobbi introduced the workshop and presenters, she and Raven and I spoke about our stories for a few minutes each, and then we engaged the attendees in questions and answers and discussion.  As always, it clarified the need for more inter/faith discussion spaces for trans people.  I was particularly impressed by how we were all able to hear some very queer things from each other (in many senses) and yet respond from places of genuine appreciation and reciprocation.

It was also very good to work in this way with Raven – although we go way back together, first meeting at a trans support group at Arlington Street Church (UU, Boston) in the 90s(!), we haven’t really worked together directly before; I’ve been to his annual FTM Camp-Out, we’ve had a bit of email about the faith campaign for MA trans rights legislation, and I’ve been in his audiences several times.

For some reason I didn't tell a very interesting version of my story, especially in context.  Although, in fairness -- this is Raven we’re talking about, right?  He looks and sounds like he just stepped out of Game Of Thrones or something, only far more awesome.  Bobbi’s saga was and is pretty epic as well, and her outfit was quite nice.  And on the third hand -- I should be glad that one really can't tell an uninteresting version of my story, nu?

This year’s First Event also held spiritual offerings that included Rev. David Weekley, Rev. Moonhawk River Stone, Rev. Sarah Carpenter, Vickey Allen, Cyn and Ruby Simonoff (siblings), and more from Raven Kaldera; workshops, services, and vending.  FE’s most faith programming ever, and by far!

And the Mass Trans Political Coalition staff did a secular workshop on Friday – “The State Of Trans Advocacy”.

I would have liked to attend more of the conference -- indeed, all of it -- and maybe I should have, especially as it was my last one for the foreseeable future (as I am moving to Washington DC at the end of the month).

Also?  Don’t forget to fill out FE’s survey about your experience of this year’s con!

The History Project – my oral history interview

When I came home from my interview with The History Project, I was inspired to take one of those “selfies” all the kids are talking about. 

Founded in 1980, The History Project documents and preserves the history of Boston's LGBT community, and shares that information with the public – by conducting research on lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people in Massachusetts, preserving the documentary record of that community's social and historical contributions, and providing a forum for educating the general public.

THP is perhaps best known for its 1998/9 book “Improper Bostonians : Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland”; they published a second book in 2001 and offer other resources.  They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

THP conducted an oral history interview with me because I’m moving to Washington DC at the end of the month (to live with my long-distance partner of 4 ½ years, Julia McCrossin, a lifelong metro DC resident and Fat Studies scholar), and have been in leadership in Boston’s queer community since I came out as a high school freshperson in 1990 (too, I was born in Boston and have always lived here, and was never really "in").  I was the first out trans student at Newton North High School, a co-founder of their Gay/Straight Alliance and organizer of their first GLBT awareness day, part of their work for MA’s Gay & Lesbian Student Rights Law, part of the first trans / queer couple at their prom (I think there had been at least one gay couple some years before, and Newton South was first with some firsts as well)…and the rest is history – ha!

The interview was conducted by Marvin Kabakoff (also the primary service leader at our shul Congregation Am Tikva) and Andrew Elder, THP archivists and board members, at THP’s offices; Marvin questioned and Andrew filmed (speaking of history, it’s interesting how hard it is to describe the creation of “film” when the whole process is digital, as this was – i.e. there is no film, tape, etc.).  The interview was about an hour and a half long, but could have gone on indefinitely – it’s amazing how much has happened in the last twenty-odd years, even/especially locally, and I don't even know all of it.

It wasn’t my best work -- I was getting over a cold, and had been distracted from preparing for the interview by preparing to move.  But hopefully it was close enough, and will intersect well with past and future interviews.  I did forget some things I shouldn’t have.  But I remembered some things that I hadn’t in too long.  And even some that THP didn’t know about, or hadn’t heard much about, yet.  For instance, did you know that there was a trans organization here in MA before MTPC (MA Trans Political Coaltion)?  It’s Time Massachusetts (ITMA), founded and directed by the late Penni Ashe Matz, may her memory be a blessing.      

I tried not to be too “back in my day, we had to walk uphill to the Statehouse – both ways!  Both ways, I tell you.  Even in the snow.  And we didn’t have none of your fancy testosterone to keep us warm, neither.  No, we did not.  And another thing…”.  I think I at least managed not to tell anyone to get off my lawn.  I think.

Well, I will be receiving a copy of the video.  Eeek.  

In any case, thanks THP!  And thanks to all who helped me make history, not to mention made it themselves.  And really -- everyone has, every day, from their first to last days.  Privilege and good fortune – and their intersection with oppression and bad fortune -- have enabled me to be part of history in a particular and public way, but we are all and each a vital part of history’s creation, preservation, interpretation and dissemination.  And those of us who are part of communities whose history is least known or appreciated have a special role.  Those of us in the know, and the appreciate, must raise up fat history, and its intersection with the history of other communities, including queer ones.  We must learn and share our history, and we must hold open the door for those whose histories are even less visible due to racism, classism, ableism and other oppressions.    

For instance, did you know about Phil Baoine, part of Massachusetts fat and queer history (yes, the caption leaves a lot to be desired)?  I just learned about him last month, when THP used a photo of him in the publicity for their year-end fundraising event.  He even reminds me of my Julia!

Temple Sinai & Congregation Am Tikva's Healing Service - my farewell

Our table at our 13th anniversary last May -- last night's flowers were yellow gerbera daisies; flowers are always artificial and candles unscented.  

Last night was my last time at Temple Sinai and Congregation Am Tikva’s Healing Service (CAT is my shul, and we live at TS).

It’s been held about every other month and on Yom Kippur for close to 14 years -- yes, we’ve been celebrating our b’nai mitzvah -- and I’ve been attending for the last several.  They dedicated the service to me –- as well as to two Temple Sinai members who passed away this week, one of whom was also a Healing Service member, may their memories be a blessing –- and were otherwise really lovely.  I actually have a cold this week, but am so glad I could and did go.  Special thanks to service leaders Marvin Kabakoff (also the primary service leader at CAT), Deena Blau and Dayse Waissman, as well as Dayse’s husband Roberto and others who have led us in the past.

Here are Deena, Dayse and Marvin at the 13th anniversary service.

And here is the door sign I made as a parting gift.

Services are 7:30 p.m. in TS' Weintraub Auditorium at 50 Sewall Avenue in Brookline's Coolidge Corner. They end at 8:30, followed by an optional oneg.  Gather in a circle with a minyan or more for music, meditation, prayer, and sharing. No particular healing needs or sharing thereof are needed -- we know that healing is a personal, lifelong and constant need for all.  There is also a time to share blessings.

My moving-to-DC open house

My gift from Jennifer Rose, a fellow member and leader at Congregation Am Tikva – a handpainted ceramic kiddush cup depicting Jerusalem.  Particularly bashert as I actually don’t have a kiddush cup anymore – I had silver ones from my family and friends, but an abusive ex has them.  

I don’t have photos of the event yet, but I should soon.    

My moving-to-DC open house yesterday went quite well!  Thank you all!!!

I’m moving to DC at the end of the month, and this was my official public farewell event.

It’s so bittersweet for me to leave Boston, where I was born and have always lived (37 years) and which I’ve always loved, but this is the best way to finally start living with my long-distance partner of 4 ½ years, Julia McCrossin (a lifelong metro DC resident), and our dog of 1 ½ years Ursula, and help my mother-in-sin. And DC does have its advantages for us. And we will visit, and have our wedding here, and hopefully live here someday.

We had a couple of dozen guests all told, and it was busy the entire time, from two to five.  Family, friends of family, friends from junior high school, fellow members of Congregation Am Tikva, trans and queer colleagues, housemates; and many people were in more than one category (and yes, in many senses!).  I invited a couple of hundred people, but even with the unseasonably nice weather it was rather an ask, what with the challenging location, busy schedules, and so on.

Alas, my Julia couldn’t be with us in person, and many of my local people have not met her yet.  But she sent a cheese pizza as a surprise present, awww!  And we made it into hors d’oeuvres.  It was even a white pizza (white sauce instead of red, i.e. more dairy instead of tomato), because she knows I prefer those.  It’s part of a running joke with us – she loves pizza, and teases me that I should send her one long-distance.

I wish our Ursula could have been there too – even though she would have stolen the show, not to mention cuted people into feeding her ALL the things.  

Our house manager Forreste Brooks managed the event for me, which is one of the several things he does professionally.  He’s also been renovating and redecorating the house and yards; it’s one of the ye olde Arnold Arboretum buildings (indeed, the one where Wilson lived with his wife and daughter).  There were also some seasonal decorations and candles.  The menu included homemade pasta salad (tricolor tortellini, broccoli, grape tomatoes, red onion, creamy herb sauce) with optional chicken, two kinds of cheese and crackers; three kinds of cookies, Walkers shortbread*; iced or hot homemade punch (Fresca, apple and orange juices), L. A. Burdick’s cocoa*, Harney & Son’s Holiday Tea*, coffee, water.  *Gifts from my mentor, as I was her last Christmas Tea guest of the season.  

I’d said that refreshments would be provided (and posted a draft menu), but that people were welcome to bring anything except alcohol.  Guests brought homemade slow-roast beef, home-assembled crudité (red and green bell peppers, baby carrots, celery, sugar snap peas, broccoli) with homemade yogurt dip, cherries (in hopes that my life in DC will be like a bowl of, awww); homemade pear pie, homemade mint chocolate cupcakes, homemade popcorn (with grated cheese, butter, salt, pepper), Cheryl-Ann’s Bakery's chocolate babka; sparkling apple-cranberry juice.  And one guest got but forgot to bring Valentine’s cookies, to symbolize my love with Julia, my community’s love for me, etc., awww.  (Though I know, how scary is it that even perishable Valentine’s stuff is being sold already?!)

I also asked that people donate to Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (where I chair the Interfaith Coalition for Trans Equality) in lieu of gifts – but I was open to receiving gifts, and was pleased to be given some, as well as some cards (and really the cards were gifts also).

Trans / loved one? Need friendly phone call this month?

Are you a trans person or loved one who could use a friendly phone call this month? Do you know someone who is? Please let the the 3rd annual December Project know! 

http://www.jenniferboylan.net/2013/11/23/trans-holidays-got-you-down-we-will-call-you-on-the-phone/

Trans? Holidays got you down? WE WILL CALL YOU ON THE PHONE

By JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN | Published: NOVEMBER 23, 2013

Update, Dec. 9: Please scroll to bottom for the latest.

Hello there.  For the third year in a row, we are doing THE DECEMBER PROJECT.  The plan is simple.  If you are trans– or if you love some one who is trans– and you need a friendly voice, email us and we will call you on the phone.

We began this project in 2011.  I was thinking that year how hard the holidays can be for people– but they can be especially hard for trans people and their families.  Charles Dickens had it right when, in the CHRISTMAS CAROL, he suggested that it’s Christmas, not Halloween, that’s the most haunted of holidays.  Our memories are heightened at this time of year– we think back to our childhood, to our many struggles.  For some of us it’s a time when we’re acutely aware of how cut off we are from those we love.  The world is full of transgender people who are unable to see their children, their parents,  their loved ones, all because of the simple fact of who they are.

We cannot undo all the hurt in the world.  But what we can do is CALL YOU ON THE PHONE and remind you that YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  You don’t have to be in crisis to take advantage of this project.  All you have to do is want a friendly voice.

The project is run by four people– Jennifer Finney Boylan, national co-chair of GLAAD; Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality;  Dylan Scholinski, director of Sent(a)mental Studios, and Helen Boyd, Professor at Lawrence University.  We are two trans women, a trans man, and a spouse of a trans woman.  Between the four of us, we have heard many different kinds of trans narratives.  If we can help you, we would be glad to do so.

How do you get us to call you? By emailing jb@jenniferboylan.net.   I’ll use that email as the central mailbox;  if you have a particular preference to talk to one or the other of us, let me know– although I can’t guarantee that you’ll always here from the person you request.  Also please tell us the time of day and the date you’d be free for a call; you might want to give us a couple of options.  And of course, tell us your phone number.  WE WILL KEEP YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENTIAL.

We will start with calls on December 1, and keep this going until New Years.

Sound good?  I hope so.  We hope we can help, even if just a little.

Three other caveats I should mention at the end here:

1) First, no one in the December Project gets a dime out of it.  This is a shoestring operation, largely consisting of four people trading phone numbers.  If you want to support our causes, you can let us know, and we’ll tell you how to give.  But this is not about that.

2) If you are in serious crisis, please bypass us and go directly to the national suicide prevention lifeline: 1-800-273-8255  WE ARE NOT TRAINED AS THERAPISTS or as counsellors for individuals in crisis.  If you need something more serious than a “friendly voice,’ please call the lifeline.

3) For the moment we are content with this project consisting of the four of us;  in past years, we have been a little overwhelmed (and yes, deeply touched) by the many, many of you who have wanted to join us.  While we thank you for your grace and your love,  it’s also overwhelming for us to sort through the requests; we hope you’ll understand if we ask that folks writing us be primarily those who want a call. There are many ways you can get involved in your own community, and we heartily encourage everyone who wants to spread some love around to do so in their own way, starting right at home.

Thanks so much!  Wishing you all the best for a positive, hopeful, loving holiday season!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Finney Boylan, on behalf of the December Project

Update, Dec. 9:  We have been deluged with requests!  We are making the calls as swiftly as we can, but if you haven’t heard back from us, please be patient.  Also, please request calls via the email address listed above, and NOT through the comments section below!  Thanks so much.

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