November 2024

Friendsgiving and Trans Day of Remembrance 2024

Family is built not born! You and yours are invited to join us for our Annual Friendsgiving Potluck! Bring some delicious good to share, on Sunday November 17th, 1-3 pm at Wander Berkshires.

Free and welcome to all members of the LGTBQ+ Community and Allies! Please come to meet, socialize, make connections, and eat good food.

Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition will be bringing lots of turkey, but please do RSVP if you can to let us know about how many to expect and what you expect to bring. (Last minute friends who didn’t get around to RSVPing also invited.)

RSVP Here: also get more location and parking information

Please join BSCC at Wander on November 17th from 4-5 pm for a Transgender day of remembrance service and candlelight vigil after our friends-giving event.

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) was started by Gwendolyn Ann Smith in 1999 as vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, Chanelle Picket, and Monique Thomas. All three Black, transgender women were murdered in eastern Massachusetts within 3 years of each other. The day has since grown to be recognized internationally.

TDoR highlights the losses in our community due to transphobic bigotry and violence. It is observed annually on November 20th.

Please honor and stand with the transgender community on this day and every day. This event is free and open to the whole community

Also from Seeing Rainbows: Trans Day of Remembrance “Existence is Resistance” Celebration on November 20th

Proceeds to benefit the Trans Mutual Aid Fund. MC’d by local drag artists Sativo Green and Jayde Violet, Singer-songwriter Wylder Ayres, jepyang electronic music. open stage — all are welcome! Catering from Steeple City Social. BYOB / Non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase from WANDER. Questions? Please contact us at info@seeingrainbows.org. REGISTER HERE. Pay-what-you-can. $20 suggested. $40 sponsors another’s attendance.

By Ray Garnett, ago

Berkshire Trans Group awarded Trans Justice Fund Grant

Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition

Media Contact: Ephraim Alexander Schwartz | Ephraim@berkshirestonewall.org

Berkshire Trans Group awarded Trans Justice Funding Project grant

[PITTSFIELD, MA] Berkshire Trans Group has been awarded $6,267.40 by the Trans Justice Funding Project to go toward programming, captioning, guest speakers, and mutual aid for and about transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming members of the community. The Trans Justice Funding Project is a community-led funding initiative founded in 2012 to support grassroots trans justice groups run for and by trans people in the United States (including U.S. territories). 

Berkshire Trans Group is a peer support group and a project of Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition, Berkshire County’s longest standing LGBTQ+ organization. It has been essential to the launch of organizations like Berkshire Pride, Rainbow Seniors, Queer Men of the Berkshires, and other groups focused on LGBTQ+ wellbeing. Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition has since shifted its focus to its Berkshire Queer History Project, which often partners with projects and organizations to expand access to queer history in the Berkshires – including trans history. 

Berkshire Trans Group has served since 2017 as a peer support group and information resource for, by, and about the local transgender community. In addition to presenting opportunities to meet the local trans community in Great Barrington, Pittsfield, North Adams, and online, it is also a place where people can exchange resources, opportunities, and information on trans-friendly establishments.

This funding brings the opportunity to Berkshire Trans Group to extend the availability of cross-county meetings, which were slated to be reduced due to volunteer burnout. The Trans Justice Funding Project has also awarded enough to allow for Berkshire Trans Group to begin hiring captioners for trans-specific Berkshire Queer History Project interviews.

In addition to its regular annual Friendsgiving and Trans Day of Remembrance in November, Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition held its second Queer History Month Screening on October 24th. This year plans to address activists who have been lost to or impacted by LGBTQ+-specific marginalization, including the AIDS crisis and escalated violence against transgender individuals. If you know someone or of someone who has been lost to or impacted by LGBTQ+-specific marginalization, please reach out to queerhistory@berkshirestonewall.org.

More information on Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition and its project, Berkshire Trans Group, can be found on their website at berkshirestonewall.org. Please direct questions to info@berkshirestonewall.org.

FOR MEDIA INQUIRES:

Ephraim Alexander Schwartz | Ephraim@berkshirestonewall.org

By Ephraim Alexander Schwartz, ago