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Marsha C. Botzer

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Marsha C. Botzer is a Seattle based activist and non-profit administrator who has been working in the Transgender rights movement since the mid-1970s.[1][2][3] Botzer is a trans woman herself.[2] She founded Ingersoll Gender Center in Seattle in 1977, making it the oldest non-profit organization working in the space of transgender rights.[4]

She has served on the boards of organizations such as Pride Foundation, Safe Schools Coalition, Lambert House, and Seattle Counseling Service.[5] Botzer was also an early member of Hands Off Washington and a founding member of Equality Washington, as well as Out in Front Leadership Project.[5]

Career

Foundation and Development of Ingersoll Gender Center

See also: Ingersoll Gender Center

Botzer has cited a problem of joblessness and underemployment of transgender people as being the reasons for founding Ingersoll Gender Center.[6] Getting the word out about the organization to a marginalized group before the internet posed a challenge. Botzer has said that in the face of this she would tuck Ingersoll Center business cards between the pages of books in the Seattle Public Library's small collection of books on the subject of gender.[7] Over the course of the late-20th century, Botzer made over 100 trips accompanying transgender residents of Seattle to Trinidad, Colorado where they sought gender confirmation surgery.[7] She even introduced the doctor there, Dr. Stanley Biber, to Dr. Marci Bowers who succeeded him at his practice in Trinidad after he retired.[7]

Involvement with Public Policy

Botzer was co-chair of The National LGBTQ Task Force from 2005-6 and then again from 2009-10.[5] In 2008 she served as a national co-chair of the Barack Obama Pride Campaign.[5] In 2009 she was on the leadership committee for the Equality Across America march in Washington, D.C. and spoke at the rally.[5]

Having already worked on a national and international level, Botzer first gained a formalized role in local Seattle politics in 2015 when she was appointed to a task force under Mayor Ed Murray centered on LGTBQ issues.[8] This task force got a law passed that requires all single-occupancy restrooms to be gender-neutral.[8] The law applies to both City operated restrooms and privately owned places of public accommodation.[8]

In 2019, Botzer was appointed to a King County Council task force focused on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Inclusion.[9]

In 2021 the Seattle Police Department was banned from participating in Capitol Hill Seattle Pride's march, and some gay cops said that they felt excluded from the Pride event. Botzer suggested a potential strategy to create solidarity between police and the LGBT community would be for the police department to hire more transgender cops, which she argued would reduce the accounts of police violence against transgender people.[10]

Education and Outreach Work

Throughout the 1990s and early 21st Century Botzer has served on the boards of many organizations working in the space of human rights related to gender identity and sexuality. She has also founded several such organizations. Since 2011 Botzer has been on the faculty of the.Los Angeles LGBT Center's Emerging Leaders Project.[5] In 2012, Botzer was on the board of directors for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health during the development of Version 7 of the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People.[5][11]

Awards

  • Virginia Prince Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Federation for Gender Education.[5]
  • Civil Rights Hero Award, 2006, from Lambda Legal[5]
  • Task Force Leadership Award, 2007[5]
  • Jose Julio Sierra Civil Rights Award, 2009[5]
  • Community Service award from Washington State LGBT Bar Association, 2011[5]
  • 2013's U.S. Trans 100 List[5]

References

  1. ^ "About Us". Ingersoll Gender Center. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  2. ^ a b Constant, Paul; Graves, Jen; Herz, Ansel; Holden, Dominic; Madrid, Cienna; Minard, Anna. "The Smartest People in Seattle Politics". The Stranger. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  3. ^ "The 21 Most Lesbianish Cities in the US: The Autostraddle Guide". Autostraddle. 2012-01-24. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  4. ^ Editor (2021-04-17). "Current and Former Staff Call Out Anti-Blackness at Ingersoll Gender Center". South Seattle Emerald. Retrieved 2022-01-10. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Marsha Botzer: Ingersoll Gender Center, Hands Off Washington, National Lesbian and Gay Task Force - Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  6. ^ Turnbull, Lornet; Times, The Seattle (2013-07-01). "Overshadowed by gay and lesbian compatriots, the transgender community is fighting for acceptance - Las Vegas Sun Newspaper". lasvegassun.com. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  7. ^ a b c "New book highlights Seattle's role in transgender movement". The Seattle Times. 2021-04-15. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  8. ^ a b c jseattle (2015-06-25). "Seattle, where 'restrooms are available and safe for all'". CHS Capitol Hill Seattle. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  9. ^ "County Council Confirms Members of Task Force focused on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation". King County. June 26, 2019. Retrieved Jan 10, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Rantz: Gay cops rail against Seattle pride ban as groups push them 'back in closet'". MyNorthwest.com. 2021-06-01. Retrieved 2022-01-10.
  11. ^ "Standards of Care - WPATH World Professional Association for Transgender Health". www.wpath.org. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
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