MTPC Press Conference & Community Action Day -- my letter
The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) held a Press Conference & Community Action Day today at the Massachusetts Statehouse, calling for action towards the passage of An Act Relative To Gender Based Discrimination & Hate Crimes (House Bill 1728 / Senate Bill 1687) before the end of the legislative session on July 31st.
Here is the letter I wrote. If you've written yours, thank you! If you haven't, please do so as soon as you can -- click here for help.
July 14, 2010
House Speaker Robert DeLeo Senate President Therese Murray
State House State House
Room 336 Room 330
Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133
Dear Speaker DeLeo and President Murray,
My name is Mycroft Holmes, and I am a transgender person who lives and works in greater Boston, where I was born and have always lived. I love Boston and the rest of Massachusetts; they’ve always been my home and I hope they always will be.
I’m an interfaith transgender leader, and have been for almost twenty years. I’m a Co-Chair of the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality (ICTE), a member of the Steering Committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), and the Emeritus Founding Chair of the Transgender Working Group (TWiG) of Keshet. I’m also a board member of Congregation Am Tikva, the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) synagogue of Boston.
Keshet is the local and national non-profit organization that works for the inclusion of GLBT Jews in Jewish life; ICTE is the coalition that works for the inclusion of transgender people in faith communities and public life. Keshet and ICTE work together to increase faith-based support for the bill An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes (House Bill 1728 / Senate Bill 1687). ICTE created and has submitted to you several updates of our Declaration Of Religious And Faith-Based Support For Massachusetts Legislation An Act Relative To Gender-Based Discrimination And Hate Crimes, signed by hundreds of Massachusetts communities and individuals.
I write to you today to urge you to take action on An Act Relative To Gender-Based Discrimination And Hate Crimes (House Bill 1728 / Senate Bill 1687) so that it can pass before the legislative session ends at the end of this month. This bill would finally give transgender people our civil rights. This is so vital, so long overdue, and we are so close. Please, take action as soon as possible.
Thirty-four years ago, I was born biologically female, transgender, and a person of faith, and I am so grateful for and proud of those things. I wouldn’t change them if I could. Like Adam the first Earthling, and all beings, I am made and remade btzelem Elohim, in the image of God. My identities are gifts and blessings, meant to be shared with the world and used to practice tikkun olam, world healing.
Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to work in criminal justice. After public school in Brookline and Newton, I attended Northeastern University as a Criminal Justice major and the first openly transgender student. The university was supportive, but classes, campus life and housing were very challenging. 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 classes, and hopefully find employment in their field for after graduation. The co-op department was supportive, but the employers wouldn’t even communicate with me, never mind interview me. Because I was transgender, I was the only one of the 200 criminal justice students who wasn’t placed in a job. Without the experience and financial support of co-op, I had to leave Northeastern.
It was devastating to learn that I couldn’t pursue my dream because I was transgender, and that I had no legal recourse. Yet the experience also made me realize that my calling was to be a transgender leader. The day my co-op advisor called to tell me I couldn’t be placed, and the details of the discrimination, I finally truly understood what it meant to be a member of a group of citizens that don’t have civil rights. And I knew that helping to make my cities, state, country and world a better place for everyone to experience and express their gender was my calling, my life’s work.
I have been discriminated against because of my gender identity and expression many times, especially in employment. So have my loved ones, and all of the many other transgender people I know and know of. Every time we leave our homes—sometimes even within them—we must fear for ourselves and for each other. None of this should be, and it can be changed -- this bill will help to change it.
Thank you for your time. I hope that I and the rest of MTPC’s Community Action Day and press conference at the Statehouse today have furthered your understanding of transgender people and the urgency of taking action on An Act Relative To Gender-Based Discrimination And Hate Crimes (House Bill 1728 / Senate Bill 1687).
Thank you,
Mycroft Holmes
{my home address}
CC: Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz Representative Elizabeth A. Malia
State House State House
Room 413-C Room 33
Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133
*******
Mycroft Masada Holmes
Co-Chair, Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality (ICTE)
Member, Steering Committee, Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC)
Emeritus Founding Chair, Transgender Working Group (TWiG), Keshet
