Trans lobby day gets 120 participants

One of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition's (MTPC) goals for its first lobby day at the State House, held May 15, was to show Beacon Hill that there is a large constituency that supports the transgender non-discrimination and hate crimes legislation. The group succeeded beyond its expectations. About 120 people turned out for the lobby day, enough people to force MTPC to move its brief pre-lobbying training session from one of the State House meeting rooms to the larger Gardner Auditorium. The crowd also exhausted MTPC's supply of lobbying packets, forcing people to pair up as they visited lawmakers' offices.

"I'm very pleasantly surprised by the turnout," MTPC co-chair Gunner Scott told the crowd in Gardner Auditorium.

During the training session in the auditorium Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge), one of the lead sponsors of the legislation, told the participants that for many of his colleagues the lobby day marks the first time they have ever been engaged on transgender-related issues.

"Don't assume that when you go talk to them that they know anything about transgender equality," said Barrios.

One of the other lead co-sponsors, Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-Somerville), urged the participants to speak from their personal experience in trying to sway lawmakers and their staff members.

"What you want to think about is, why is this important to me?" said Sciortino. "Share that with them."
After a quick lobbying role-play demonstration the crowd poured out of the auditorium to find the offices of their state representatives and senators to ask them to support the transgender rights legislation. For the most part, people did not make contact with the legislators themselves, who were either busy or out of the office; instead they spoke with lawmakers' aides, giving them information packets about the legislation and asking for a reply from the lawmakers about whether they will support it. Scott warned attendees that they would most often be dealing with the aides rather than the lawmakers, but he said that could be to their advantage. In lobbying the Boston City Council to pass the 2002 transgender non-discrimination ordinance in Boston, Scott said some of MTPC's most valuable allies were the councilors' aides, who were able to explain the legislation to the councilors in a way that would persuade them.

"What we want to do is make a great impression on the staff members in their offices," said Scott.

Bay Windows followed several participants throughout the lobby day, and while none of them were able to talk directly with their legislators, they received a polite response from legislators' staff members, even from aides working for lawmakers that have anti-LGBT voting records.

Mary Fudeman, an aide to Rep. Lewis Evangelidis (R-Holden), met with a small group of citizen-lobbyists and listened to their personal stories of facing discrimination in employment because of their gender identity or expression. Evangelidis voted in favor of the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage last January.

Janice Josephine Carney of Jamaica Plain told Fudeman about being turned down for one job after another because she is transgender. Although she holds a bachelor's degree in legal studies she has been turned down for everything from jobs in the law profession to washing dishes.

"Some of them are blatantly honest about it," said Carney. "They say, 'We don't hire your kind,' and it's perfectly legal."

Andrea Boisseau of Worcester, who is intersex, explained to Fudeman that while she is female-bodied and lives as female, she was fired from her job as a van driver from the Worcester YMCA after her employer discovered that her driver's license lists her as male. Fudeman responded, saying, "That's really very sad. I've never heard a story quite like that before." She promised that Evangelidis would follow up with them about the bill but gave no indication on whether he was likely to support it.

While some of the participants in the lobby day told their personal stories, others spoke from their professional experience as transgender community advocates. The three case managers of the transgender outreach program Transcend, run by Cambridge Cares About AIDS, lobbied as a group and talked with aides about what their clients have faced. Rosa Auterio spoke with Meghan Bartley, an aide to Rep. Mike Moran (D-Boston), and told her that many of Transcend's clients have faced employment discrimination because of their gender identity or expression.

"When someone has to try and get a job and they find out that they're transgender, they're discriminated against," said Auterio. Bartley said she was unsure what position Moran, a strongly pro-gay lawmaker, would take on the legislation but promised to get back to her.

While many of the participants were transgender, there were also family members and allies of the community lobbying for the bill. Ken Garber of Quincy lobbied for the bill out of support for his son, an 18-year-old FTM and a high school senior who began transitioning about a year-and-a-half ago.

"His being transgender, I worry every time he leaves the house that he's going to be safe ... [Transgender people are] not second-class citizens and they shouldn't be treated as such," said Garber.

Holly Ryan, co-chair of MTPC, said the lobby day was successful even beyond their expectations. She said the 120 participants made contact with 85 offices and got commitments from 24 lawmakers to support the bill. No lawmaker or their aides told participants that they planned to oppose the bill.

Sciortino said the success of the lobby day is a good sign for the future of the transgender rights legislation. The next step in the push for the bill is a hearing on the legislation before the judiciary committee; Sciortino said the committee has not finalized its schedule of hearings on new legislation, so it is uncertain when the hearing will take place.

"The lobby day far exceeded our expectations," said Sciortino. "We received an incredibly receptive and positive response thus far from legislators, and I think that bodes well for the legislation."