Women, Action & the Media

I got a really remarkable birthday present this year: on November 16, Massachusetts passed a law giving transgender people equal protections when seeking employment, housing, credit, and education. The bill also expands the state’s hate crimes protections to now include transgender people; a community that experiences alarmingly disproportionate levels of harassment and violence.

How did this groundbreaking legislations get passed? It took years of hard work by hundreds of activists and thousands of concerned citizens, all responding to the tireless leadership of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), our focus for Day 15 of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.

Led by Gunner Scott, a former WAM! presenter, the MTPC describes themselves this way:

The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) is dedicated to ending discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression.

We envision a world where persons of all genders are treated with respect and fully participate in all areas of society, free from fear of prohibition, harassment or violence based on their gender identity and/or expression.

To that end we educate the public, advocate with state, local, and federal government, engage in political activism, and encourage empowerment of community members through collective action.

That means MTPC doesn’t just advocate for (and win!) grounddbreaking civil rights protections for trans folks at the state level, they also foster community with events specificially designed for trans people of color, trans youth, and other groups typically marginalized within trans communities, agitate and educate for better media coverage of trans issues, collect stories of trans discrimination in order to inform and focus their advocacy work, and much, much more.

And that transgender civil rights bill? It’s not over yet. According to the MTPC:

The final version of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill passed by the legislature unfortunately does not include protections within public accommodations. MTPC and our coalition partners fought hard to try to get public accommodations restored in the Senate version of the bill, and were unsuccessful in doing so. Although this bill does not include public accommodations, this is a historic and important victory in the fight for achieving transgender equality in Massachusetts.

“This is not the end of our fight, and MTPC is committed to getting public accommodations protections for our transgender youth, adults, and families. MTPC plans on introducing a bill for the 2013 legislative session for those public accommodations protections,” said Gunner Scott, Executive Director of MTPC.  “For now, let’s be proud of the difference this bill will make in the daily lives of thousands of people across the state who need jobs, a safe place to live and access to education.”

You know what to do to get involved. Just click here.