Regardless of how it has come across, MTPC has been quiet, perhaps too quiet, in regards to the genocidal atrocities being perpetrated in Palestine. We also acknowledge that there are other active genocides being perpetrated in Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Amhara, Tigray, and Artsakh along with countless other acts of colonial violence and oppression happening daily throughout the world including the United States. In line with our organization’s values, vision, and political analysis, we stand in solidarity with all oppressed peoples and believe that a liberated future for transgender and nonbinary people is a future in which all people are liberated from disparity, oppression, and violence. While we currently work within the nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC), these deeply-held values and vision are entirely unaligned with the NPIC and it is our first endeavor to always live up to these values.
We believe firmly in the words of our revolutionary trans forebear Leslie Feinberg who in 2002 said: “I do not believe that our sexuality, gender expression, and bodies can be liberated without making a ferocious mobilization against imperialist war and racism an integral part of our struggle. The degree to which any movement is progressive or revolutionary is measured by its independence from the rulers of the society it seeks to change.”
With that said we must call upon those who represent us in Boston, in Massachusetts, in the United States, and in the United Nations to immediately end the transfer of money, weapons, people-power, and tactics with the State of Israel. We believe that calling for a ceasefire is nowhere near enough and that you must all act swiftly to end your collusion with and participation in this accelerated genocide. You cannot undo what has been done in your names already, but acting now can help prevent it, and your complicity, from becoming any worse.
Finally, we would like to share two timely and actionable items that are before MTPC right now.
- We have been made aware of State Street’s major investments in Elbit Systems and other military industrial complex corporations that are profiting from the mass death and genocide in Palestine. We received a pledge of $5,000 of unrestricted sponsorship funds from State Street Pride as a part of our Professionals for Trans Rights fundraiser in May. We have not yet received this money and have asked our Steering Committee to review the gift in line with our Gift Acceptance Policy. We do not have any further updates at this time but will provide them publicly as this process unfolds as part of our commitment to transparency and accountability.
- MTPC will be tabling at Boston Pride for the People on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Alongside many other organizations, activists, and community members, we will be at Boston Pride but that does not mean we are with Boston Pride. First, we show up at Pride events to be there for the transgender and nonbinary people of Massachusetts; to let them know that we are here to support them, to advocate for them, and to be visibly and proudly trans. Second, we believe that it is our responsibility to be present and be a loud voice of dissent against colonialism, genocide, the military industrial complex, racism, white supremacy, and of course, cissexism, transantagonism, and transphobia. We believe we must be fighting FOR the new trans future we are building just as much as we are fighting AGAINST the powers that be.
While we hope it goes without saying that our organization stands in direct opposition to colonialism, capitalism, and white supremacy, we acknowledge that we must actually say it. Especially at a time when we are being repeatedly lied to about the violence and mass death in Palestine by the same governments and media outlets that have done nothing to stymie the ongoing violence and attempted eradication of transgender and nonbinary people in the world. In fact, we know that many of these same power and warmongers are the ones who are actively stoking the fires of anti-transgender sentiment and violence in the US, the UK, and beyond.
As one of our most venerated ancestors Marsha P. Johnson proclaimed,
we believe that there can be no pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.
In trans love & power,
MTPC’s Staff and Steering Committee
