An Act of Faith: Jan 21st.

The Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality and Keshet invite you to take part in:

AN ACT OF FAITH: Speak Out for Transgender Equality

JANUARY 21, 2009, 7 – 9 PM
Berenson Hall, Hebrew College
160 Herrick Road, Newton, MA
(Green Line D, Newton Centre Stop)

The Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality and Keshet invite you to help kick off a faith based campaign in support of a statewide civil rights bill for transgender equality. Join with clergy, lay leaders, and community members from many faiths and spiritual traditions. Come celebrate and learn how you can help pass a bill that will make Massachusetts a more just state for everyone. All faiths are welcome.

The Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality and Keshet invite you to take part in:

AN ACT OF FAITH: Speak Out for Transgender Equality

JANUARY 21, 2009, 7 – 9 PM
Berenson Hall, Hebrew College
160 Herrick Road, Newton, MA
(Green Line D, Newton Centre Stop)

The Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality and Keshet invite you to help kick off a faith based campaign in support of a statewide civil rights bill for transgender equality. Join with clergy, lay leaders, and community members from many faiths and spiritual traditions. Come celebrate and learn how you can help pass a bill that will make Massachusetts a more just state for everyone. All faiths are welcome.

This year “An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes” will be reintroduced in the state legislature: People in Massachusetts people can be fired, refused work, denied housing, education or credit simply because of bias against their gender identity or gender expression. This bill would outlaw such discrimination and add protections against violence and harassment.

To RSVP, please contact: Orly Jacobovits, orly@keshetonline.org

Sponsored by Keshet (www.keshetonline.org) and the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality (www.interfaithcoalition.org)

Co-Sponsored by: Arlington Street Church, Cambridge Welcoming Ministries, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), MASALA, MassEquality, Mass. Transgender Political Coalition, Metropolitan Community Church-- Boston, TransEpiscopal, Ohel Tzedek of Temple Israel

HB 1722 Status Update

An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes was sent to study by the judiciary committee. This means that the committee is continuing to examine the bill and is taking it seriously.

Whether or not the bill will pass in the current legislative session is unclear. Even if it does not pass, I have no doubt that it will be refiled next time. The question is not if it will pass, but simply when.

As persons of faith, what is our role now? Clearly as individuals and as parts of congregations and organizations, we should continue to contact our legislators and ask them to support the bill.

Beyond that, I think we must continue to educate ourselves and stay centered.

When those who oppose transgender equality use scare tactics that portray transgender people as bizarre and abnormal, we must continue to say that our transgender brothers and sisters are part of our families and communities.

We should continue to educate ourselves about the truth of what this bill means and what transgender people genuinely face in a transphobic society.

With an eye to educating our communities, ICTE will begin to hold workshops across the course of the year. Please be on the lookout. We will continue to move forward with open minds and hearts.

Judiciary Committe Hearing

On March 4th, 200+ transgender people, our friends, families, partners and allies arrived at the Massachusetts Statehouse. The Judiciary Committee, a panel of powerful and serious state Senators and Representatives heard 9 hours of testimony in favor of the HB 1722. Attorneys spoke about how the bill had the full support of employment attorneys on management and labor sides. The committee heard from parents about their transgender children, transgender parents about their families, from community groups, from partners and from many persons of faith. They heard about hopes, fears, and joys. Rabbi Reinstein's voice spoke resoundingly about justice and Genesis. Reverend Michael Cooper and Reverend Cameron Patridge spoke about our connections to each other.

At any time, the chairs of the Committee could have ended hearings. Instead, they listened alert and patient until 11 at night. I am filled with hope for our chances for victory.

Declaration of Support for HB 1722

This is the Declaration of Support for HB 1722. Please email interfaithcoalition@gmail.com with your name, affiliation, title (if any) and address (just a city is fine) if you wish to be a signatory to this letter. Addresses will be kept confidential; it is important however for legislators to know that you live in their district and care about transgender equality. All persons of any faith are weclome to sign in suport. Thank you! --Richard M. Juang

Declaration of Religious and Faith-Based Support for Massachusetts House Bill 1722, An Act Relative to Gender-Based Discrimination and Hate Crimes

Drafted by the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality

Affirming A Moral Vision

No society is truly just when its members face persecution. Justice requires that a society stand by its moral vision and act against that persecution. The signatories of this letter ask that the Commonwealth act upon its moral vision of a just society by passing House Bill (HB) 1722.

The signatories of this letter are persons of faith, clergy, congregations, and organizations of faith. Some of us are transgender persons. Others are allies and loved ones. Some of us directly serve the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Others serve indirectly. In our support for HB 1722 we speak with one voice. We speak on behalf of those who are vulnerable to violence and persecution because of their gender identities or gender expressions.

Transgender people and others who do not conform to gender stereotypes face persecution in essential areas of life. HB 1722 adds "gender identity or expression" to the Commonwealth's hate crime laws and non-discrimination laws in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, and credit. Violence and persecution on the basis of gender identity or expression often stem from the belief that people who do not conform to gender stereotypes are unworthy of protection by the law and are outside of the Commonwealth's moral vision. By passing HB 1722, the legislature would speak out against such persecution.

Our Connected Communities

People of all gender identities and expressions, including transgender people, are born into, enter into, or are called to many faiths. Our faith traditions help to ground and support us in our lifelong quests for fulfillment and responsibility to one another. All of our traditions respect the dignity of each and every human being and recognize our connection to one another.

Because of this connection, the persecution of a person on the basis of gender identity or expression is an injury, not only to an individual, but to everyone connected to that person: to the person's family, friends, and spiritual community. The oppression of one person indelibly scars all of us. It calls all of us to take account of our moral duties, stand in unity, and take action.

The Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality (ICTE) is a collaborative effort begun in 2007 in support of House Bill 1722 and to support education on transgender issues. For further information, please contact Orly Jacobovits, Keshet, orly@keshetonline.org, (617) 524-9227 or Richard M. Juang, interfaithcoalition@gmail.com. All faiths are welcome. www.interfaithcoalition.org