Photo: Madison Rogers/WBZ NewsRadio
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Members of the transgender community have been rushing for legal aid before Inauguration Day in January.
Chris Erchull, senior attorney at GLAD Law in Boston, told WBZ NewsRadio this is because of rhetoric from President-elect Donald Trump on the campaign trail. The President-elect spoke out against allowing transgender girls to play in girl's high school sports, mocked transgender members of the military, and aired attack ads against Vice President Kamala Harris for her support of transgender rights.
“The incoming administration has promised that it will initiate changes in federal law that require people to identify only with their birth sex,” Erchull said. “I’ve been getting a lot of calls from people who are concerned their rights are going to be implicated.”
Erchull said federal laws like this would make transitioning much more difficult, so many are going to GLAD for help. The law firm specializes in advocating for and defending LGBTQ+ individuals, and they have a service that helps people navigate legal name and gender changes on ID forms.
“Last month we saw three times as many intakes as we did the same month in the previous year,” Erchull said.
In this time of stress and fear for many transgender individuals, Erchull wanted to assure the transgender community that GLAD will be fighting for them and their rights every step of the way as the new presidency inches closer.
“It’s impossible to predict what’s coming around the corner. We just know that there have been some promises by the incoming administration and those promises reflect a likely harm to the transgender community,” Chris said. “I can assure people that we’re going to be here doing all we can to fight in court, to fight in legislatures, to protect the rights of transgender people in New England and nationally.”
WBZ NewsRadio's Madison Rogers (@madisonwbz) reports.