Putting a face on transgender issue

Seated in an anteroom in the State House office suite of state Rep. Brian Wallace, Joanne Herman told legislative aide Carol Houghtaling, that she was nothing more than "a boring accountant."

"You kind of look like a boring accountant," Houghtaling replied with a chuckle.

Under other circumstances, Herman, a South Boston resident who was making her first foray as a citizen lobbyist to urge Wallace to support the transgender rights bill, would likely have felt insulted. But given that her goal was to acquaint her state representative and his staff with a transgender constituent, the boring label was probably more helpful than hurtful.

Houghtaling, a softspoken and friendly woman, acknowledged that she had never met a transgender person before, and was unaware if the same could be said of her boss, who was unable to attend the meeting Herman had scheduled with him because he was held up in a revenue committee meeting. Herman said that she was there to help Wallace put a face on the issue. "It really helps to know somebody," she said.

"Yeah, it sure does. I agree," said Houghtaling, adding that she believes there is a lot of fear on the part of some people about transgender issues.

Wallace was among legislators that were targeted in the April 7 lobby day, which was spearheaded by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), because he is not among the 104 cosponsors of the trans rights bill, which would add gender identity and, expression to protected groups in the state's hate crimes and nondiscrimination statutes.

Shortly before Herman's meeting in Wallace's office, Daniel O'Donoghue and his sister Jennifer Kelly were wrapping up a meeting with freshman state Rep. Carolyn Dykema, who also does not support the bill. The Hopkinton Democrat told the siblings that her understanding of state law was that gender identity and expression were already protected under state law.

"I don't think that's necessarily true," Kelly told Bay Windows after the meeting.
While some state courts have interpreted the state's gender discrimination laws to protect based on gender identity or expression, Attorney General Martha Coakley has stated that to clear up confusion, the state's civil rights laws must be more explicit with regard to protections based on gender identity and expression.

In fact, Maura Healey, Coakley's Civil Rights Division chief, spoke in favor of the bill at the lobby day rally, which was held at the foot of the State House's Grand Staircase. Though the state has strong hate crimes and anti-discrimination laws, said Healey, "a serious gap in the law remains." The trans rights bill, she said, "can fill that gap and make real, by making clear and explicit, the very basic principles upon which our lives our based.

"When I look out at this beautiful hall I see students, parents, engineers, teachers, firefighters, social workers and counselors among us, all of them contributing members of a society made richer by the diversity of ideas and experience," she continued, adding that like every citizen, they deserve "to be able to live, go to work, achieve housing, go to school, go to the movies, to dinner, free from the harm, anxiety, the fear that they will be discriminated against or even attacked because of their gender identity or expression."

Kelly, a mother of two boys, was at the State House to press for the bill as a show of support for O'Donoghue, a transgender man who lives in Newton.

"It seems like a no-brainer to help somebody against any kind of a hate crime," she said, her eyes welling up. "I mean, my biggest worry is that [O'Donoghue] will get hurt because somebody doesn't understand."

O'Donoghue called his sister's show of support overwhelming, since it was initially difficult for his family to understand his desire to transition.

"And to actually have my sister here, it means the world to me," he said, since he was fearful of losing family connections. "I love my sister and I love my nephews and I want to be able to participate in a part of their life in a positive way," he said.

Kelly, who lives in Dykema's district and said she cast a vote for her on Election Day last November, said she would continue to press Dykema on the issue."I'll definitely send repeat e-mails to her," she said. "And I'm going to thank my state senator, [Karen] Spilka, who did support it. So one yay, one no," she laughed. "We'll just keep e-mailing. We'll see."

Kelly, O'Donoghue and Herman were among nearly 300 transgender people, allies, advocates and legislators - including lead sponsors state Sen. Ben Downing and state Reps. Carl Sciortino and Byron Rushing - who turned out for the lobby day events.

"I think today's lobby day was a resounding success," said MTPC Executive Director Gunner Scott. "I think the number of people that were in here creates a visual presence and lets people know that we're here, we're here to ask for our rights, to talk about our stories."

"It was just all around a great event for the legislators, for our community, for our allies," he added. "The fact that a national organization like Family Equality Council brought their whole staff and had them all lobby - not to mention all of our other partners - but ... it was nice to see that commitment for the trans community."

There are currently more than 70 LGBT, social justice and civil rights organizations working in coalition with MTPC to pass the trans rights bill, which failed to make it out of committee during the last legislative session. With a record number of cosponsors, the support of House Speaker Bob DeLeo and Gov. Deval Patrick, advocates are hopeful that the bill will make it to the floor of both the House and Senate this year. (Senate President Therese Murray has not yet articulated a position on the bill.)

But one challenge trans advocates are facing with renewed vigor is the opposition from anti-LGBT organizations such as the Massachusetts Family Institute, who have waged a campaign alleging that the bill would facilitate sexual assaults in women's restrooms by men dressed as women.

Aides to at least two lawmakers stated during the lobbying day that they had received calls of concern about what they referred to as "the bathroom issue."

Houghtaling, the aide to Wallace, was one of them. "So what will happen?" she asked Herman. "Give me something I can use when they call me because I really don't know what to say."

Herman, who actually raised the subject first in the conversation, was well prepared with an answer.

"First of all there's been no known case of somebody actually doing that," she said of the potential bathroom molestation. "The second thing is that this bill won't make it legal to do that. It's still against the law."

Herman added that such an allegation doesn't take into account that some people transition from female to male, making the "bathroom issue" irrelevant.

"What are they trying to do?" she said. "Well, we're all just being authentic and trying to live our lives."