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Remembering Ed Sedarbaum

Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition would like to share these words from Rainbow Seniors of Berkshire County in remembrance of Ed Sedarbaum, who founded Rainbow Seniors and was a past board member of Berkshire Stonewall.

“Our beloved founder, Ed Sedarbaum, died peacefully at his Williamstown home on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. Eddie was hospitalized several weeks ago and after many tests and conversations decided to enter hospice care. Several longtime close friends rallied to arrange the logistics of care so that he could go back home on Wednesday, November 13. Friends and teams of nurses made sure that he was comfortable , and his longtime canine companion Punky made extended visits. 

A few hours before he died, a small rainbow appeared on the floor under his bed, cast by sunlight through a glass decorated with his husband Howard Cruse’s cartoon character Wendel. It was a clear symbol of the work Eddie did throughout his lifetime of community service, working to secure the rights of people of all backgrounds, especially those of us in the LGBTQ+ community. 

Ed formed the Rainbow Seniors of Berkshire County in 2015, drawing on decades of experience as a community organizer in New York City. He founded the Queens Center for Gay Seniors in 1995 and ran for the NY State Senate in 1998, the first openly gay candidate for elected office in Queens County. Upon moving to North Adams in 2003, he saw the isolation and lack of support for and among LGBTQ+ people in Berkshire County; Ed was determined to do something about it. He spoke with individuals, senior centers, and Elder Services of Berkshire County. With their support he secured a Federal grant to establish the Rainbow Seniors. As director  2015-2018, Ed built the organization into a vibrant and flourishing group within the Berkshire LGBTQ+ community.  In 2018 he recruited M Florence Hall as a paid director who, with Ed’s guidance, led the group through a successful leadership transition and the pandemic lockdown. Ed also helped recruit our current coordinator, Cass Santos-China.

Ed’s perseverance was again demonstrated when his husband, Howard Cruse, died in 2019 just a few months after being diagnosed with lymphoma. Even while grieving Ed continued his work with us, providing guidance to our director and attending events. Approximately a year later, Ed was hospitalized with life-threatening conditions that kept him away from home for three months. As soon as his health stabilized he resumed his work with the Rainbow Seniors Steering Committee. He also gave generous financial gifts to provide for the long-term stability of the organization.

Links for further information:

By Ray Garnett, ago

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

Fiscal Sponsee Seeing Rainbows granted 501(c)3 status less than month after incorporation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Ephraim Alexander Schwartz | always.seeing.rainbows@gmail.com

Announcing

Seeing Rainbows granted 501(c)3 status less than month after incorporation

[PITTSFIELD, MA] Seeing Rainbows, a trans-led art organization, has received its nonprofit 501(c)3 status less than a month after filing. Drawing from community initially discovered through Berkshire Trans Group, Seeing Rainbows received a generous temporary sponsorship from the support group’s fiscal sponsor (Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition) to bridge the gap as it awaited word of its own nonprofit status.

“We’d heard from multiple nonprofits that it took months, closer to a year, for their status to be finalized,” says Ephraim Alexander Schwartz, cofounder of Seeing Rainbows. “It was certainly a welcome surprise. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of welcome surprises come our way.”

“Everyone I’ve spoken to about this is absolutely floored that we heard back so quickly,” says cofounder Maayan Nuri Héd. “We don’t know the ‘why’ of it, but we’re very grateful to Berkshire Stonewall for supporting us in the interim, and also relieved to be an independent nonprofit in our own right, so quickly.”

The founding of Seeing Rainbows dovetails with Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition’s strategic planning. As of 2024, Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition surveyed the LGBTQ+ community for its current needs. Serving as a temporary fiscal sponsor to LGBTQ+ projects like Berkshire Pride and Queer Men of the Berkshires made sense in years past and enabled organizers of various economic backgrounds to change Berkshire County for the better. However, the amount of volunteer hours needed to continue as a fiscal sponsor regularly diverted attention from its greatest strength: as the longest standing LGBTQ+ organization in Berkshire County at 27 years, it has found itself best situated as a vessel for preserving queer history.

 “Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition has a long history in the Berkshires, but in our recent past has served as a hub and fiscal sponsor for various LGBTQ+ projects,” says Ray Garnett, treasurer of Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition. “We will be in a period of transition as we move away from serving as fiscal sponsor and move towards focusing on Berkshire Queer History.”

Seeing Rainbows is the first program to graduate from fiscal sponsorship since this transition began. It is also the youngest Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition fiscal sponsee.

“I remember a time when BSCC was the only nonprofit representing the queer community and it’s exciting to see the support of our community that is enabling the growth of many queer organizations, some of which have already blossomed into nonprofits of their own. We are proud to have been a part of their journey and look forward to what’s next,” said Jason Vivori, current chairperson of Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition. Vivori has also served as president, vice president, and other roles through various chapters of its life.

“I am thrilled to see the smooth transition of Seeing Rainbows from a BSCC sponsee to its own nonprofit status. As one of its first supporters, we look forward to continuing to support the important work that Seeing Rainbows is engaged in, creating and sustaining a thriving trans community in the Berkshires,” says Charlie Catacalos, newly elected president of Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition.

Seeing Rainbows has launched with a slew of active programming, from weekly Trans Hikes, to monthly closed (trans and nonbinary only) Trans Art Workshops in partnership with Berkshire Art Center, as well as monthly Salons, open to all.

More information on all of Seeing Rainbows’ programming and partnerships can be found on their website at seeingrainbows.org. Questions may be directed to the entire staff at always.seeing.rainbows@gmail.com.

FOR MEDIA INQUIRES:

Ephraim Alexander Schwartz | always.seeing.rainbows@gmail.com

Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition | berkshirestonewall@gmail.com 

By Ephraim Alexander Schwartz, ago

Upcoming Queer History Viewings!

June 13th, 7pm at Arrowhead in Pittsfield, MA Berkshire Queer History Project hosts an eclectic screening with never-seen-before clips, spanning the rainbow. This opportunity has been made possible by Mass Cultural Council.

Address: 780 Holmes Road in Pittsfield, Massachusetts

June 25th, 7pm at David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, CT Join Berkshire Queer History Project in the Greater Berkshires as the David M. Hunt Library hosts its first Pride Screening. Included are clips of interviews by LGBT+ people, for LGBT+ people.

Address:
63 Main Street, Falls Village, CT 06031

By Ray Garnett, ago

A statement from the board of Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition (BSCC):

Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition recently undertook a strategic planning process that involved interviews with board members, other local LGBTQ+ leaders, and a survey open to the general queer community. While the survey results were designed to be shared with other local Berkshire LGBTQ+ organizations and projects, the interviews were private conversations. 

Informal interview notes were recorded by the consultant carrying out our strategic planning, and anonymized when shared with BSCC. Transphobic comments about a former board member, JV Hampton-VanSant, were shared outside of BSCC and attributed to another former board member, Andrew Fitch. However, our strategic planning consultant has stated that her notes from Andrew Fitch’s interview were not included in the information provided to BSCC. 

First and foremost, BSCC would like to apologize to all who have been affected by this information. Transphobia in any situation is concerning, but hearing transphobia from within our own community is deeply upsetting. It has been a wakeup call to all of us that although the LGBTQ+ community can be affirming, welcoming, and a critical support system for many people, we are not and have not historically been a united front. Our experiences are often disparate, changing based on many factors – gender, gender expression, race, class, location, religion, and many other intersections of identity. Although we come from different backgrounds and carry different stories this does not mean that we cannot learn from others, understand their experiences, and most importantly, support each other. 

The growing issue of transphobia in the United States is one that we must face together, with support from all parts of the queer community. Intolerance is sweeping through our nation, our government, and our homes and communities. This is a moment in which allies are needed more than ever, as trans people’s rights and humanity are being called into question. Rather than dividing ourselves, we need to find ways to come together, to learn and to educate, to find common ground and to repair our connections rather than splintering further. Understanding the importance of acknowledging mistakes in order to grow, we would like to apologize for the breach of confidentiality that took place within our organization.

In light of the recent worries of transphobia, we would also like to call on North Adams Pride, our fiscal sponsee and partner, to acknowledge their problematic language around bathrooms at the Northern Lights Ball. Although there were all gender bathrooms available, the email that went out to attendees and was posted in the building also stated that there would be “cisgendered bathrooms” available as well. This language is exclusionary and harmful to our community, implying that trans people are not allowed to occupy the same space as cis people. 

Although this has been a painful moment for many of us, we would like to use it as an opportunity to learn and grow. BSCC is committed to building trust and care in our communities and we ask North Adams Pride and all our fellow organizations serving the LGBTQ+ community to acknowledge that we all make mistakes, but we are all capable of learning and doing better in the future. We look forward to continuing to build a stronger, united community together.

LGBTQ Community Survey results:

Linked here is a slideshow of 80 slides with graphs and charts from the survey completed this past December & January, with 50 respondants from the LGBTQ community in the Berkshires.

We have more information from our survey to share with local LGBTQ organizations and partners, and interested folks can also contact us at berkshirestonewall@gmail.com

By Ray Garnett, ago

Nex Benedict: Anti-LGBT+ Laws Lead to Child on Child Murder

Edited by Nuri Héd

On February 8th, Nex Benedict (they/them) died one day after being overpowered and repeatedly beaten against the girls’ bathroom floor (of which Oklahoma’s law forced them to use) by three older girls. They needed assistance walking to the nurse’s afterward, and only received emergency treatment after returning home.

Nex Benedict is the only one currently reported to have received a suspension. The Owasso Police Department is claiming their death was not related to the attack, and that they are waiting on a toxicology report that could ‘take months’.

This comes just shy of two years after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law SB615, which was declared an ‘emergency’ to expedite the bill. Its only purpose is to pass restrictive measures around bathroom use, including banning gender-neutral bathrooms and mandating that students use bathrooms that match their assigned gender at birth or else get federal funding pulled.

Oklahoma rates #49 out of 50 in K-12 state education, and #48 in healthcare. No one specializing in education, health, gender studies, or LGBT+ standards of care were consulted in the writing of this bill, which has contributed a hostile learning environment.

This is not the first anti-LGBT+ instance that has taken place in Owassa High School: in August 2022, two months after the anti-trans bathroom bill was passed, Chaya Raichik, who goes by “Libs of TikTok” online, took aim at an Ellen Ochoa Elementary School for having an LGBT-friendly educator. This educator became the target of death and bomb threats, resulting in their resignation. Libs of TikTok has been linked to 21 known bomb threats and targeted harassment by hate groups like Proud Boys.

Last month, State Superintendent Ryan Walkers appointed Chaya Raichik, who is unlikely to even live in the same time zone as Oklahoma, to the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s Library Media Advisory Committee.

The national LGBT+ community continues to be targeted by hundreds of dehumanizing bills each year, with states within our own country being declared high risk or no travel advisories due to the danger they pose for some of their own citizens.

Massachusetts has two of its own anti-LGBT bills in consideration as I write this.

Children like Nex will continue to be murdered – including by other children following the examples of bigoted adults – as long as we allow those who pursue an agenda of hatred to lead us. 

May Nex’s family find them justice, and find peace. May Nex’s memory be a blessing.

By Ephraim Alexander Schwartz, ago

STATEMENT: Tennessee Trans Youth Healthcare Ban

On July 8th, 2023, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled to make the Tennessee Trans Healthcare Ban effective immediately. This ban prohibits transgender youth from seeking and receiving gender affirming healthcare, as well as doctors from providing this type of healthcare. In addition, it prohibits continued care after March 2024. This ruling comes in the wake of multiple drag show prohibition bills across the USA, with the first being passed in Montana as of May 22nd, 2023. It also takes advantage of the same language used to take away abortion access by citing the Dobbs Abortion Ruling, stating that transgender care is not “deeply rooted in the nation’s history or traditions.” Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition stands for the rights of all LGBT+ people, and these rulings attack those rights.

This is not where it ends. On February 28th of 2023 (House File 508), Iowa proposed overruling same-sex marriage. A record-breaking 500+ anti-LGBT bills have been introduced across at least 20 states in 2023, over 200 of those specifically targeting trans youth. Seventy of those so far have been enacted into state law. These bills disregard medical advice and put many of our neighbors in heightened danger just for how they were born and where they live.

Currently, the Tennessee ban is being appealed on the grounds of being unconstitutional sex discrimination. If you want to help prevent the Tennessee Trans Healthcare Ban, please consider reaching out to and supporting ACLU Tennessee.

You can also contact Tennessee’s elected officials, including:

Governor Bill Lee

Speaker Cameron Sexton

Representative Pat Marsh

Representative Karen D. Camper

Tennessee House of Representatives

References:

Erin Reed/Erin in the Morning (independent journalist and trans woman)

American Civil Liberties Union (follow-up article here)

Human Rights Campaign 

AP News

USA Today

Iowa Legislature

By Ephraim Alexander Schwartz, ago

Stonewall Pride Potluck Picnic

Continue celebrating Pride on Wednesday, June 21 as the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition resumes its potluck picnics. Come to the picnic area at Hancock Shaker Village, 1843 West Housatonic Street, Pittsfield at 5 pm with food to share and your own plate and utensils. The Village welcomes us free of charge to the first of its Sunset Celebrations, featuring lawn games, a food truck, and a cash bar, as well as the serene beauty of sunset over the historic buildings and fields. It’s the longest day of the year!

Please RSVP on eventbrite, so we know how many people to expect!

By Ray Garnett, ago