Parents of transgender children want vote on bill

AS PARENTS OF TRANSGENDER CHILDREN in Massachusetts, we’ve been closely following the movement of  the transgender protections bill pending in the Legislature. As you can imagine, this bill would have a tremendous, deeply personal, and direct impact on us and our families by ensuring full, explicit protections for our children in every area of their lives.

Over the past few weeks, Gov. Charlie Baker has talked about the power of personal stories and the bravery that comes with telling those stories. We’ve done the work for a long time of telling these stories to lawmakers, and to other Massachusetts residents.

We hope that you can understand our pain and our fears. Every day, we fear for our sons and daughters’ safety in the Commonwealth. We fear that they will be seen as less than fully equal. And we endure the pain of knowing that they may be misunderstood or mistreated, simply for being who they are.

In many cases, our fears have already manifested. Some of our children have suffered discrimination. Some have struggled with depression. We know that transgender people lose their lives because they are transgender. In passing this bill, the state of Massachusetts can show that it has our children’s backs.

Most of us were not advocates before our children came to us about who they are. None of us knew we would have a transgender child. But all of us travelled a journey – often confusing, and often painful – in order to educate ourselves and to come to a stronger understanding about what it means to be part of this community. And in doing so, we now have the pride and joy of watching our children begin to grow into their true selves. In embracing who they are, our children are healthier and happier, they are doing well in school, and they are looking forward to bright futures. We feel blessed to see them shine. We love our kids and we love our families more than anything in the world, and we want Massachusetts to be a safe, welcoming place for them to grow up and thrive.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, we have tremendous respect for you in opening your heart to the true impact of this bill and in publicly announcing your support. We believe that sharing our stories – as the governor said – has helped build a bridge to understanding. We believe it’s past time to bring this bill to a vote. It has been nearly 10 years since these protections were first introduced on Beacon Hill, and transgender people have waited long enough. Will you commit to bringing the bill to a vote as soon as possible?

Andrew Brandt, parent of a transgender son, Somerville
Mike and Sandra O’Connor, parents of a transgender son, Lexington
Ann-Michele and Torin Dragsbaek, parents of a transgender son, Hopkinton
Jennifer Hunter and Robert Sugiura, parents of a transgender child, Cambridge
Cathy Kane, parent of a transgender son, Medway
Valerie and Dennis Lydon, parents of a transgender son, Plainville
Tiffany Sousa, parent of a transgender son, Lowell
Tina McColgan Stone, parent of a transgender son, Hull
Marcia Sweeney, parent of a transgender daughter, Attleboro
Sandra and Rod Thomas, parents of a transgender child, Needham

CommonWealth Voices is sponsored by The Boston Foundation.

The Boston Foundation is deeply committed to civic leadership, and essential to our work is the exchange of informed opinions.  We are proud to partner on a platform that engages such a broad range of demographic and ideological viewpoints.