Massachusetts' An Act Making Discrimination On The Basis Of Height And Weight Unlawful - today’s update!!

This is my home state, where I lived until 2014; if you didn’t get this e-mail today, e-mail Caroline.Sherrard@MASenate.gov.

"Height and Weight Anti-Discrimination Update

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you all know that the bill has been filed in both the House and Senate as SD. 1581/HD. 1683 An Act making discrimination on the basis of height and weight unlawful. I’ve attached the text of both bills, which is slightly modified from last session to address the concerns of an amusement park industry group that has brought up concerns in the past. There is now specific allowance for restrictions on height and weight due to federal, state, or industry safety standards.

The next immediate action will be to gather cosponsors on this legislation. If you live in Massachusetts, sending an email or calling your state Senator and state Representative asking them to sign on to SD. 1581/HD. 1683 An Act making discrimination on the basis of height and weight unlawful as a cosponsor would be very welcome. This is most effective when the action comes directly from constituents of that legislator, so I ask that you only email legislators who represent you (or, if relevant, ask members of your organization only to contact their own State Senator or State Representative).

You can find out who your elected officials are and their contact information at: WhereDoIVoteMA.com.

Once the clerk has finished processing all of the legislation that was just filed, both bills will be assigned a new number and sent to a committee (the current number is the docket number). We expect this bill to be sent to the Judiciary Committee, where it has gone in recent years. The Judiciary Committee will then sent out a notice for a hearing. We will update the group when a hearing has been scheduled. At that point, we would love if anyone who is available to come testify in person do so and will also be asking interested parties to submit written testimony.

In addition, we heard from a State Rep in Kentucky that she is interested in filing similar legislation in her state. If you/your organization is able to work nationally or has connections with Kentucky, please email Josie.Raymond@gmail.com.

Thank you all so much for your efforts! Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Best,
Caroline

Caroline Sherrard, Chief of Staff
Office of Senator Becca Rausch
Massachusetts Senate
Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District
State House Room 419
617-722-1555 (internal ext. 1556)
Pronouns: she/her/hers"

Tu BiShvat & Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Shana Tova, Good Year. Yom Huledet Sameach, Happy Birth Day. It is Erev Tu BiShvat and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Night, and last night there was a Super Blood Wolf Moon, a total eclipse of the Moon but not the heart. Ḥamisha Asar BiShvat, Fifteenth Of Shvat; Rosh HaShanah La’Ilanot, the New Year of the Trees; the Birth Day of the Trees. Last April it was 50 years since Rev. Dr. King was assassinated, and this month he would have been 90; next month is Black History Month. May his memory be a blessing, and blessed be the True Judge, as we say in Judaism.

Nu, the Birth Day of the Trees is not to be confused with the birthday of the Trews – the trans Jews. We were born on the Sixth Day along with everyone else – including people of all body sizes and shapes, dis/abilities, sexes / genders / sexualities, races, spiritualities and so on. And yet even when everyone is included in the Beloved Community, the human community remains but a small branch of the Tree of Life, on this our Earth and probably in the rest of our Universe as well. Yet although there are still many more trees than people, there are less trees today than at any time since humans began to exist, and we take the lives of billions of trees every day.

Tonight, tomorrow, and every day and night, may we center climate justice and racial justice as we schlep towards tikkun olam, world repair, at the intersections with LGBTQI+, immigration, spiritual, fat, disability, and all other stripes of the rainbow of justice. Amen!

#TuBiShvat #TuBiShvat5779 #MLK #MLKDay #MLK2019 #MLK90

🌲🌳🌴🌵🎄

Massachusetts height & weight anti-discrimination bill refiled TODAY!

TODAY (the refiling deadline for all bills), the latest version of my home state of Massachusetts’ height and weight anti-discrimination bill was refiled! An Act Making Discrimination On The Basis Of Height And Weight Unlawful, SD 1581. If you didn’t get the following e-mail on Monday January 7th, e-mail Caroline.Sherrard@MASenate.gov.

"Height and Weight Anti-Discrimination Legislation

Hello all,

If you’re receiving this email you previously reached out to Rep. Byron Rushing’s office in support of height and weight anti-discrimination legislation in Massachusetts. If you would like to no longer receive emails on this topic, please let me know.

As many of you know, Rep. Rushing is no longer in the legislature. I’d like to introduce you all to Senator Becca Rausch who will be filing this legislation in the Senate and Representative Tram Nguyen who will be filing this legislation in the House. I used to work for Rep. Rushing and now work for Senator Rausch, so there is some nice continuity! Tobin Abraham, also cc’ed, is Rep. Nguyen’s staff person.

We need to refile this legislation by 1/18. If you have any comments on the language from last session (attached), please let me know as soon as possible. I’ll be in touch soon if our office or Rep. Nguyen’s office has suggested changes.

We’d like to have an advocacy strategy conference call after bill filing, sometime in late January or February.

Thank you so much for your interest and advocacy.

Best,
Caroline

Caroline Sherrard, Chief of Staff
Office of Senator Becca Rausch
Massachusetts Senate
Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District
State House Room 419
617-722-1555 (internal ext. 1556)
Pronouns: she/her/hers"

Partner with the Black Trans Prayer Book to say Transphobia Is A Sin!

The Black Trans Prayer Book’s Transphobia Is A Sin campaign is launching TODAY, and EVERYONE’s encouraged to participate (it’s okay if you’re not Black and/or trans -- nobody’s perfect)! 

Make a sign, take a selfie, share it!!! 

Here is mine. 

#BlackTransPrayerBook 

#TransphobiaIsASin 

#TransPeopleAreDivine 

#TransphobiaIsTrayf 

#TransphobiaIsChayt

🖤🚻🛐📖 

It's only January, and yet at least one trans person has been murdered in 2019

Alas, my first post this morning must be about mourning. January isn’t even over yet, and there has already been at least one trans person murdered in 2019. And sadly it isn’t at all surprising that she is a woman, Black, or young. This past Sunday January 6th (Epiphany / Three Kings Day), Dana Martin, 31, a Black trans woman, was found murdered in Montgomery, Alabama.

Last November 20th was the 20th annual Transgender Day Of Remembrance (TDOR), when we remembered the at least 25 trans people murdered in this country since TDOR 2017, and the hundreds more murdered elsewhere in our world. And between that day and the end of the year, at least two more of my trans siblings were taken by murder here in the US, and we became more aware of an October murder. And the great majority of those stolen continue to be Black, women, and young.

Between TDOR 2017 and the end of 2017, three trans women were murdered -- Brooklyn BreYanna Stevenson (Oklahoma City), Brandi Seals (Houston), and Rhiannon Layendecker (Englewood, Florida). In 2018, they were joined by Christa Steele Knudslien (North Adams, Massachusetts -- we were colleagues there in my home state and Friends here), Viccky Gutierrez (Los Angeles), Celine Walker (Jacksonville), Tonya Harvey (Buffalo), Zakaria Fry (Albuquerque), Phylicia Mitchell (Cleveland), Amia Tyrae Berryman (Baton Rouge), Sasha Wall (Chesterfield County, South Carolina), Karla Patricia Flores-Pavón (Dallas), Nino Fortson (Atlanta), Gigi Pierce (Portland, Oregon), Roxana Hernandez (Albuquerque), Antasha English (Jacksonville), Diamond Stephens (Meridian, Mississippi), Cathalina Christina James (Jacksonville), Keisha Wells (Cleveland), Sasha Garden (Orlando), Vontashia Bell (Shreveport, Louisiana), Dejanay Stanton (Chicago), Shantee Tucker (Philadelphia), Londonn Moore (North Port, Florida), Nikki Enriquez (Laredo, Texas), Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier (Chicago), Regina Denise Brown (Orangeburg, South Carolina), Tydi Dansbury (Baltimore, an hour from me here in Gaithersburg), and Keanna Mattel (Detroit).

I note that there have been multiple murders in some places, that Roxana died in ICE custody with significant evidence showing she was abused there, and that Nikki was one of four women victims of an intel supervisor for US Border Patrol. And that more than 360 trans people have been murdered elsewhere in our world in the past year, and the great majority are Latinx -- mostly trans women and transfeminine people. Too, there continues to be little attention given to the murders of and assaults on Native people who are Two Spirit.

I also remember Nicole Hall, a Black trans woman found dead in Dallas in May. And my siblings lost to suicide, as the attempt rate in our community is over 40%. And every year there are unreported deaths, and reported ones where the victim is not identified as trans.

May all of my trans sisters, brothers and other siblings’ memories be a blessing, as we say in Judaism -- and one that calls us to act, especially at trans justice’s intersection with racial, immigration and economic justice. May we continue schlepping towards tikkun olam, world repair, at the intersection of LGBTQI+, climate, racial, immigration, spiritual, fat, disability, and all other stripes of the rainbow of justice. May we never forget that white supremacy has always included and prioritized misogyny, cis supremacy and transphobia. Amen!

#TDOR #TDOR2018 #TDOR2019 #TransDayOfRemembrance #WontBeErased

Massachusetts height & weight anti-discrimination bill UPDATE!

Friday January 18th is the refiling deadline for the latest version of my home state of Massachusetts’ height and weight anti-discrimination bill! If you didn’t get the following e-mail about that today, please e-mail Caroline.Sherrard@MASenate.gov.

"Height and Weight Anti-Discrimination Legislation

Hello all,

If you’re receiving this email you previously reached out to Rep. Byron Rushing’s office in support of height and weight anti-discrimination legislation in Massachusetts. If you would like to no longer receive emails on this topic, please let me know.

As many of you know, Rep. Rushing is no longer in the legislature. I’d like to introduce you all to Senator Becca Rausch who will be filing this legislation in the Senate and Representative Tram Nguyen who will be filing this legislation in the House. I used to work for Rep. Rushing and now work for Senator Rausch, so there is some nice continuity! Tobin Abraham, also cc’ed, is Rep. Nguyen’s staff person.

We need to refile this legislation by 1/18. If you have any comments on the language from last session (attached), please let me know as soon as possible. I’ll be in touch soon if our office or Rep. Nguyen’s office has suggested changes.

We’d like to have an advocacy strategy conference call after bill filing, sometime in late January or February.

Thank you so much for your interest and advocacy.

Best,
Caroline

Caroline Sherrard, Chief of Staff
Office of Senator Becca Rausch
Massachusetts Senate
Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex District
State House Room 419
617-722-1555 (internal ext. 1556)
Pronouns: she/her/hers"