An Accepting Community – Meghan Whitmore
December 9, 2021
For those of you who don’t know, Meghan Whitmore is a transgender woman who delivered a heartfelt speech on Open Mic Night about her experience transitioning and the reception she received afterward. Her moving words illustrated the importance of inclusivity, and Whitmore even stressed how touching it was to have people accept her as a woman.
The speaker highlighted the fact that she transitioned as an adult rather than the current practice of transitioning before or during puberty. The later change to her gender provides her with a fresh perspective on the trans community and an opportunity to comment on current trends in transgender awareness, prompting me to ask Whitmore to elaborate on how transitioning in today’s world compares to her experiences growing up. She answered, “Nowadays, I think a lot of people are aware that there’s a word for it and there’s support […] teachers and family members, I think everyone knows that it exists and knows that it’s real. People can go down that path if they would like to nowadays pretty early, and I think that it’s amazing for people to go through puberty the way they want to go through it.“
A new addition to the FHS School Committee, Meghan Whitmore provides LGBTQ representation to the group, enabling her to advocate for those marginalized students. Wondering what her new membership meant for both students and families of Franklin, I asked, “What changes do you intend to implement [as part of the school committee], and what suggestions have you brought up?” In response, Whitmore replied, “So there are three things that are really important to me, the diversity aspect, COVID, you know being serious about COVID and trying to eliminate it or minimize it as much as possible, and then the budget, too. So I asked to volunteer to be on the budget subcommittee within the school committee. […] I help get funding and help with the budget we have.”
Regarding the speech Whitmore gave at the Black Box, I was curious about the symbolic importance of that and the potential effects it may have had on both her and her audience. “I think that Open Mic Night is great because it just shows the support, and you know you’re not alone,” she explained, going on to expand upon the idea that “it’s a morale booster and it’s very inspiring. Mackenzie, I mean, she’s an amazing person. There are so many people in Franklin I’ve met that are just inspirational people. There’s a great group of people in this room, here.”
