A Cambridge, Massachusetts restaurant, Glass House in Kendall Square, sparked a protest and a boycott after it allowed two anti-transgender organizations to host a fundraising dinner at the restaurant, according to the dining and food publication Boston Easter.
Reports Boston Eater:
A local trans rights group organized a protest at Kendall Square spot Glass House on Sunday, May 18, after two anti-trans organizations held a fundraising dinner at the restaurant. The group TransMIT is now calling for a boycott of Glass House and its overarching owner, the Briar Group, which also operates tourist-y downtown spots like Ned Devine’s and Hurricane’s at the Garden.
TransMIT, a university student group that advocates for trans people’s rights, initially planned “to pressure Glass House into cancelling the event altogether” by calling and leaving voicemails at the restaurant, according to a public document outlining the group’s actions. The dinner, titled “Born in the Right Body,” was hosted by the groups Democrats With an Informed Approach to Gender (DIAG) and LGB Courage Coalition, both of which campaign against transgender care for minors. One of the speakers, Simon Amaya Price, a Berklee College of Music graduate who identifies as “formerly trans,” has had other speaking engagements cancelled in the past. The Glass House event was priced at $200 a plate.
When the event wasn’t cancelled, the group turned to protest on Sunday, and called for a boycott of all of the Briar Group’s restaurants, which also include Broken Records Beer Hall, the Harp, Six String Grill and Stage, the Beth Kitchen & Bar, and more.
Lead organizer Julia Turcotti, a PhD student at MIT, told Eater in a statement that LGB Courage Coalition’s co-director Jaime Reed and Vernadette Broyles, the founder of the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, both scheduled speakers at the dinner, “have built careers ruining trans lives because of their own ignorance.” Turcotti continues: “They call a ‘threat to society’ what they simply cannot understand. As MIT students, and as the Cambridge community, we will always put the full force of our love and solidarity into fighting ANYONE who comes and tells us our neighbors are not worthy of it.”
Read the complete Boston Easter story here.
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