Trans Doe Task Force at Pride 2022

This post will be updated throughout the Pride season as we participate in various events.

July 15 2022: We will be tabling at NoWoCoPride tomorrow, July 16 2022. They have planned many days’ worth of events, including a full performance schedule for tomorrow’s festival. Yesterday, we went to NoWoCo Paws Up for Pride at the Fitchburg Dog Park to get excited for the weekend! We weren’t able to bring any dogs with us, as our board members’ dogs are both far too elderly, but we had fun petting everyone else’s dogs and chatting with attendees and event organizers!

June 30, 2022: You will be seeing a lot of posts about the “last day of Pride month” today, especially from companies and organizations who are participating in rainbow capitalism. For us, as LGBTQ+ people ourselves who are living and working within the community, Pride does not end on June 30th. Pride is not a month, but a whole season, and we will be attending and participating in Pride events all the way into September. Following that, we will be immediately pivoting to focus on preparations for November, and Transgender Awareness Week and the Trans Day of Remembrance, which allow us to highlight work we do all year long. We will never stop, and we certainly won’t stop on July 1st.

The Trans Doe Task Force sponsored and had a table at the third annual Trans Resistance march and festival in Boston Massachusetts on Saturday, June 25. Please see the Trans Resistance website for more information. We had a wonderful (and very hot!) day meeting and speaking with attendees, volunteers and organizational staff of various nonprofits and social services who were also tabling, and allies of the TQBIPOC community. The entertainment lineup was amazing and we were fortunate to have a view of the stage from our table. We decided to display the scientific poster that we presented at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences on the back of our tent, and got some good interest in our Pro Allies list from students and professionals in related fields. On the heels of national events and political strife causing our community to fear for our future, we especially thank everyone who organized and attended this much needed event!

June 12 2022: Yesterday the Trans Doe Task Force sponsored and tabled at Franklin County Pride in Greenfield, Massachusetts. It was a beautiful day, and we had some really great conversations with folks who approached our booth. We want to especially thank the people with children who came up to the booth and tried to explain why we were there in a compassionate yet honest way.

Today we woke up on the sixth anniversary of the Pulse massacre to the news that a large militia group was arrested on the way to terrorize a Pride event in Northern Idaho. This is a grim reminder of why we have to do what we do, and while some things are looking up for the LGBTQ+ community, many other things are getting scarier. This specific targeting of LGBTQ+ people and events in Idaho is one of the reasons why we presented our workshop “TRANScending Jane and John Doe” in conjunction with Idaho State University last year. It is very important to remember the celebration aspect of Pride while simultaneously acknowledging and reckoning with the many feelings about the violence leveled against our community, both systemic and directly physical. The Trans Doe Task Force is committed to helping with both of these issues through working on individual cases as well as education and outreach towards oppressive systems. We hold fast to our team motto: Hope Dies Last.