Letter: Don't Deny Trans Youth Access to Sports

Letter to the Editor03:00PM / Friday, May 09, 2025Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

Last night [Thursday], I attended the Berkshire Transgender Rights Town Hall at Pittsfield's Unitarian Universalist Church. And I am so grateful that I did.

In a room packed with members of the local trans community, allies and Massachusetts state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, trans neighbors from across the county shared heartbreaking, powerful, profound, inspiring and eye-opening personal testimonials about their childhood struggles; battles to survive cruelty, abuse, depression; and in several cases, the very real and transformative power of participating in sports as young people.

In April of this year Massachusetts passed a budget bill that included a transgender sports ban, which, if it becomes law, will limit trans youth to participating only on teams that align with their biological sex. Transphobic media would have us believe that allowing trans kids to participate will create a lack of fairness in school sports, but there is no scientific evidence to prove this. Athletic abilities vary greatly from person to person, and there are many misconceptions about testosterone levels and their impact on performance. (Visit genderjustice.us for more information.)

What would be truly unfair is to deny any young person the opportunity to participate fully in school life. Athletics provide an important place of social connection and belonging. They support physical, mental and emotional health and often lead to greater academic success. In addition, allowing cisgender and trans kids to interact in this way provides a crucial opportunity for increased understanding, acceptance and respect.

Trans people are in the crosshairs in countless ways right now. Fueled by well-funded and vicious propaganda meant to create a political wedge by sowing fear and division, this administration is working hard — and succeeding — in threatening their rights, safety, livelihood and very existence. The goal seems to be to obliterate them entirely, to make them unwelcome in our society, and to render them invisible.

As North Adams City Councilor and trans activist Ashley Shade said last night, we must demand civil rights for all. That is what this country represents — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — for every one of us.

Please contact your representatives and tell them that you support trans youth's right to participate in sports and that you demand equal rights for all, across Massachusetts and across the United States. Injustice for one is injustice for all.

Jurian Hughes
Pittsfield, Mass.

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing.

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said.

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today."

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback.

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director.

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care. Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires.

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs.

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said.

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.

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