Trans-Rights Bill Looking Good

I just got this email from Gunner Scott, Director of the Mass Transgender Political Coalition:

Today, there is a majority of legislators in both the House and Senate supporting this bill, supporting non-discrimination for transgender people of Massachusetts. Our lead sponsors, Representatives Carl Sciortino and Byron Rushing on the House side, with Senator Ben Downing in the lead in the Senate have helped to build support and momentum for equality. Through MTPC's community organizing efforts over the last three years of the transgender and allied communities we have been able to educate and advocate with legislators and policy makers across the state. Today, we are beginning to see the fruits of those labors.

The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition applauds the many policy makers who support "An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes" including:

• Governor Deval Patrick
  
• State Attorney General Martha Coakley
  
• Congressman Barney Frank
  
• Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea Cabral
  
• Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino
  
• Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons
  
• Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins
  
• Boston City Council
  
• and today... 104 Legislative Co-Sponsors

I'm not going to count the chickens before the eggs hatch, but this is definitely looking promising. It was disappointing last year when this bill was buried, but the MTPC took things in stride, didn't give up and went after getting more and more co-sponsors for this year's version of the bill. When you get a majority of both houses to Co-Sponsor your bill, you're doing a pretty damn good job. Kudos to all that have worked so hard on this bill, especially Gunner Scott, who's proven to be a new political force in this state.

Bad Herald, Bad!

Talk about a nasty article!

The headline:

Undercover ‘john’ takes on trannies, pimps

As sensationalist as anyone would expect, coming from the Herald, but a very poor use of words. Not only do they seek to dehumanize people who are transgender or transexual, but they can't even get their terms right. "Trannies," as the paper calls it, or transvestites, aren't transexual. It's two completely different things. But who would expect the Tabloid journalism of the Herald to get that right - or to even fix it, when experts write and call them to correct it.

From the Masssachusetts Transgender Political Coalition:

On July 7, the paper posted an article online about a police operation headlined "Undercover 'john' takes on trannies, pimps" and focused on a Boston-area detective who goes undercover to arrest sex workers. The article repeatedly referred to transgender women as "trannies" and opened the story by describing how the detective has been "trapped inside houses of ill repute by giant naked trannies." The article was also published in the July 8 print edition.

This article repeatedly uses anti-transgender slurs and fails to treat its subjects with basic human decency. These sorts of slurs should be unacceptable in any credible news outlet to publish as quoted matter, much less in a staff writer's article. GLAAD and MTPC separately contacted the Boston Herald reporter, Jessica Van Sack, to ask her to remove the defamatory terminology and descriptions from the article and to offer suggestions and recommendations on how to cover transgender people fairly. The reporter did not respond to calls or emails. GLAAD and MTPC are encouraging people to contact the paper and let them know that this cheap, tabloid sensationalism is unacceptable.

In society, people who are transgender often face particular danger, even far than people who are gay and lesbian. They are very frequently persecuted against on the streets, finding housing and gaining employment. Sadly, the latter two are still legal - even in Massachusetts - until HB 1722 passes.

The group asks people to contact the Herald and its reporter, Jessica Van Sack, so they'll update the story and stop dehumanizing transgender people - or at least get their terms right. Here's a list of people they're asking everyone to contact in order to get the Herald to fix this story:

Boston Herald Contacts:
Jessica Van Sack
City Reporter
jvansack@bostonherald.com
(617) 619-6437

Joe Dwinell
City Executive Co-Editor
jdwinell@bostonherald.com
(617) 619-6177

Kevin Convey
Editor in Chief
kconvey@bostonherald.com
(617) 619-6403