Takin' it to the streets

When organizers first put out the call for marchers for the first New England Transgender Pride March and Rally, they hoped to get at least 50 participants. So they were astonished when more than 800 people responded through the event website to reserve spots in the march, which takes place June 7 in Northampton.

Trans Pride steering committee member Bet Power said between those responses and people who arrive on the day of the event without an R.S.V.P. he expects the march to exceed 1000 participants.

"I think we're going to have that, easily," said Power.

The seeds for the event were planted two years ago at the NoHo Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremony, which honors victims of anti-transgender hate crimes. At the event Power said he stood before attendees and told them that while the memorial service was important, the transgender community needed to find other occasions to come together beyond remembering their dead.

"It seemed to me we were getting mired in a sense of victimhood. Two years ago I said we need a transgender Pride, and I challenged people to work on it," said Power.

The idea for a transgender Pride lay largely dormant until last October, when Power said anger in the community over the removal of trans-inclusive language from the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) prompted a group of activists to come together and plan a Pride event to show the community's solidarity.

"It was like collective consciousness. We didn't even talk about that. We just knew it was so painful to go through that we had to rise up and speak against it," said Power.

The march will begin at Bridge Street Elementary School, wind its way down Main Street, turn onto Craft Avenue and end at the Armory Street lot behind Thomas Marketplace. After the march there will be a four-hour rally at the lot featuring speeches, musical performances, readings, and closing with a performance by Boston's All the King's Men (ATKM) drag king troupe. Among the speakers for the event are Donna Rose, a former Human Rights Campaign (HRC) board member who resigned after HRC announced its support for the non-trans-inclusive ENDA bill; Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, who will read an official proclamation in honor of the event; Gunner Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC); and New York activist Imani Henry. Beyond ATKM other performers include folksingers Lee Elder and Cathy Worthly, among others.

Power said Transgender Pride would be an overtly political event, rather than a colorful celebratory parade.

"We won't have any floats. We have a marching-only permit. ... We're going to have much more along the lines of picket signs and civil rights and old school," said Power.

There will be opportunities for attendees to get their party on after the rally. The steering committee will host an official after-party at Caf? Evolution in Florence, and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) will hold a post-Pride reception at Bishop's Lounge in Northampton. Later that evening Diva's Nightclub will hold an after-party with a DJ and a drag king show.

Power said that this event is the only transgender Pride event on the east coast (San Francisco has been holding a transgender Pride event for several years), and he expects to draw a crowd from the New England area and beyond. He said that while the transgender community has been a regular participant at Pride events in Northampton, Boston and other cities, Transgender Pride will allow the community to put its own issues front and center.

"We have so many life issues that aren't being addressed in the LGBT Prides, including Boston's, and we're tired of being the most vulnerable letter of LGBT," said Power.

The Transgender Pride March kicks off at 11 a.m. on June 7 at Bridge Street Elementary School in Northampton. For more information and a complete list of Transgender Pride events visit www.transpridemarch.org.