“Tammy Borgnis didn’t mince her words when decrying legislation banning transgender youth from playing sports on Thursday.

“She cited the case of Mack Beggs, a trans man in Texas who wanted to compete on the boys wrestling team while undergoing testosterone treatments, only to be told that he had to compete on the girls team since he was assigned female at birth.

“When Beggs began defeating the girls he wrestled against, an uproar ensued. Borgnis questioned what Beggs was supposed to do, considering he had done what they asked and was ‘ridiculed and bigoted against’ as a result.

“She also cited her own experience as a transgender woman — the suppression of self she endured until she finally came out at the age of 34, and the positive difference the last five years have made in her life.

“That’s why she spoke out against the legislation banning transgender youth from sports at a transgender rights town hall at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Pittsfield Thursday night — because she sees it as another way to ‘take our choice away and make us go back into hiding.’”

“The town hall was organized by the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition and sponsored by state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier. It was spurred by an amendment that would ban public school students from playing sports on teams of the opposite sex was inserted into the state’s Fiscal 2026 budget by Republican state Rep. John Gaskey.

“The law will likely never go into effect. That's because House Democrats ‘ furthered’ it, mandating a review by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and requiring additional legislation to enact it, effectively killing the measure.

“But the move drew criticism from LGBTQ+ activists around the state questioning why the amendment was not voted down outright by Democrats. They say that it gives credence to claims that trans athletes have unfair advantages in sports.

“Speakers at the town hall concurred.”

“U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey wrote statements to be shared at the town hall, expressing their support for the LGBTQ+ community in the Berkshires while simultaneously criticizing the administration of President Donald Trump for their executive orders against trans youth athletes.

“‘Right now, they’re punching down on our trans kids,’ Warren wrote in her statement. ‘These kids just want to be kids. Donald Trump is making them political — political pawns, that is. It’s dangerous, and we’re standing together to say “Not on our watch.”’

“‘President Trump and Republicans continue sowing hate and fear,’ Markey wrote in his statement. ‘They are targeting trans Americans, their families and their providers. But this is a fight we can win — every story you tell strengthens the fight. Every call you make energizes us to do better. With your voices, we will show that the American people are more powerful than Republicans’ cynical attacks.’”





Donald Trump is making them political pawns.' Berkshire, Mass. residents call for greater support for transgender rights at a Pittsfield town hall