Activist turns anti-trans bile into benefit

Trevor Wright, coordinator of last May's Boston Alliance of Gay and Lesbian Youth (BAGLY) Prom and currently a researcher for a survey study on LGBT youth, found himself in the crosshairs of the anti-gay group MassResistance on several occasions over the past year, with the group posting several photos of him at LGBT events and disparagingly referring to him as a "transgender activist." One photo, part of the MassResistance website's report on Youth Pride, features a photo of Wright, described in the caption as "currently dressed as a male, though that could change at any time." But there's a tiny wrinkle: Wright, who identifies as queer, is not transgender.

"I thought it was very funny, and I had spoken with [MassResistance blogger] Amy [Contrada] I think at the [June 14 constitutional convention], and I said, 'You know I'm really not trans,' and she said she doesn't write for the dot-com, she only writes on the blog," said Wright. He said Contrada told him the references to his alleged transgender status were the product of MassResistance founder Brian Camenker.

After joking about the Youth Pride photo with Gunner Scott, co-chair of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), Wright decided to turn the anti-trans rhetoric of Camenker and his supporters into something positive for the trans community. On Aug. 4 Wright will hold a "coming out party" at his South End apartment to celebrate his alleged impending transition, and the suggested $15 entry fee for attendees will go to MTPC, which is currently working to pass legislation to extend non-discrimination and hate crimes protections to the transgender community. Wright is publicizing the event through QueerToday.com, where he is a frequent blog contributor, as well as through the social networking site Facebook.

Wright said he thinks MassResistance's labeling of him as transgender has less to do with their confusion over his gender than with using rhetoric that they think will inflame their base of anti-LGBT supporters. His first up-close encounter with MassResistance was at the March meeting of the Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth, where he sat in the audience and watched Contrada take photos of Scott and commission vice-chair Grace Sterling Stowell, two of the commission's transgender members. Wright used his own camera to photograph Contrada herself, and he said she was enraged and she bolted from her seat. MassResistance's report on the meeting suggested that there was something unseemly about the presence of trans people on the commission, and soon Wright's photo began popping up on the MassResistance site, often labeling him as a "transgender" activist.

"I think it's because there's very little education around [transgender issues], and there's so many assumptions made that they can throw in the word transgender and immediately it's feared, because, 'Do you want this for your kids?' and all that kind of stuff is always thrown into the mix when they're writing on the blogs," said Wright.

For more information on the MTPC fundraiser visit QueerToday.com or e-mail Wright at [email protected]