ICTE's latest message to our supporters, published today:

Transgender Equal Rights Bill faith campaign

Happy Jewish New Year, Sukkot, Fall and all other seasons’ greetings!

The Massachusetts legislature has returned from vacation, and the next part of the campaign for the Transgender Equal Rights Bill has begun -- and we want to let you know how you can be part of it.

Here’s how we’re asking the faith community to take action:

1) Phone bank for the bill at MassEquality. Tuesdays from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. Calling voters and transferring them to their legislators' voicemail boxes in support of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill. Contact Justin Lemley at 617.878.2344 orjustinlemley@massequality.org to sign up. Groups are more than welcome, and we would be happy to publicize your community’s participation.

2) Call, email, and write your legislators. They hear from the opposition every day – they need to hear from us more.

3) Participate in the 3^rd annual Transgender Awareness Week. Saturday November 12^th through Sunday November 20^th (international Trangender Day of Remembrance, http://www.masstpc.org/events/tdor/) --http://www.masstpc.org/events/taw/. Participate in an existing event (many more will be added between now and then) and/or create your own. One great resource for this is the “I AM: Trans People Speak” public education campaign --http://transpeoplespeak.org/. We can help you figure out the best way to participate in the Week, loan you a DVD of some of the faith-based “I AM” stories, and publicize your community’s participation. You can also choose to sponsor the Week, and be recognized for that.

4) Sign our Declaration of Interfaith Support for the bill. Read the current signed version as a PDF -- http://tinyurl.com/3dnkbkv -- then add your signature by emailing us at InterfaithCoalition@gmail.org.

5) Spread the word about the bill to everyone you can! We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the response. One of the most common responses we receive – including from people of faith – is a variation of “I thought transgender people were already protected by the law! We need to correct this right away!”

With your partnership, we can amend the law so that it does protect transgender people. We look forward to working with you this fall. And we encourage you to connect with us through our online homes:

ICTE blog:

http://www.interfaithcoalition.blogspot.com

ICTE FB group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7923372429

Faith campaign FB event:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=188135257891766

Yours in great excitement and hope,

Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality (ICTE)