BayWindows.com – Ethan Jacobs
One of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition?s (MTPC) goals for its first lobby day at the State House, held May 15, was to show Beacon Hill that there is a large constituency that supports the transgender non-discrimination and hate crimes legislation. The group succeeded beyond its expectations. About 120 people turned out for the lobby day, enough people to force MTPC to move its brief pre-lobbying training session from one of the State House meeting rooms to the larger Gardner Auditorium. The crowd also exhausted MTPC?s supply of lobbying packets, forcing people to pair up as they visited lawmakers? offices.
?I?m very pleasantly surprised by the turnout,? MTPC co-chair Gunner Scott told the crowd in Gardner Auditorium.
During the training session in the auditorium Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge), one of the lead sponsors of the legislation, told the participants that for many of his colleagues the lobby day marks the first time they have ever been engaged on transgender-related issues.