A city-supported event about menstruation, trans people, and period poverty is being held in Boston on 17 June. It has been moved to a secure location after a wave of online hostility. The Boston Herald's coverage calls this a political embarrassment for Mayor Michelle Wu. I think it shows something rather different.

Let's start with what this event actually is. Trans Period Pride is a consciousness-raising discussion about the experiences of trans people who menstruate. Many trans men, non-binary people, and others assigned female at birth do menstruate, and they often face a specific kind of stigma around it: their bodies doing something ordinary is treated as proof that they are not who they say they are. The event offers a space to talk about that, share experiences, and pick up some free period underwear and a meal. That is the terrifying radical agenda we are discussing here.

The Herald frames the decision to move venues as cowardice dressed up as stubbornness. I read it differently. Sasha Goodfriend of Mass NOW was clear: "Trans Period Pride has not been canceled. We have secured a new location and are finalising a security plan." Organisers moved the event because the backlash created a real safety risk for people planning to attend. They adapted to protect the people who most needed to be there, and they kept going. That is not weakness. That is what it looks like to prioritise the safety of vulnerable people over the performance of defiance.

The piece takes particular aim at the language around menstrual equity, quoting the city's chief of Equity and Inclusion, Mariangely Solis Cervera: "Access to menstrual products changes lives. It means students can stay in school, workers don't have to miss a shift, and families don't have to make impossible choices." The Herald calls this "over-the-top rhetoric." I have heard from trans teenagers who missed school because buying period products meant outing themselves at a pharmacy counter, and from young adults who managed dysphoria and period poverty at the same time, with no support at all. Solis Cervera is not being over the top. She is describing something real.

What the Herald coverage does, consistently and deliberately, is treat the inclusion of trans people in conversations about menstruation as self-evidently absurd. The scare quotes around "trans period pride and menstrual equality" do that work. So does the mock-puzzlement: "Good question, many people asked this week." It is not a puzzling concept. Some trans people menstruate. Menstruation is already stigmatised. Trans identity adds a further layer of stigma. A community event that addresses both, hands out free products, and feeds people is about as threatening as a library book swap.

The broader context matters here. Mayor Wu's office has run a menstrual equity programme since 2023, providing free period products across Boston's library branches regardless of gender. The Trans Period Pride event sits inside that existing framework. Critics have been unable to produce evidence of public money being misused, so the Herald's piece relies instead on insinuation: "No doubt, taxpayer money will be used to protect the event." No doubt. Perhaps. Maybe. It is not journalism. It is a vibe.

What I find genuinely moving about this story is not the political fight. It is the image of organisers quietly securing a new venue, arranging security, and refusing to cancel. People who menstruate while trans deal with enough without also having to explain themselves to columnists who find their existence implausible. The fact that there are city officials willing to stand alongside them, and keep the event going under pressure, is not a scandal. It is a city doing what cities are supposed to do: making sure everyone can access what they need without shame.

The backlash against this event is part of a much larger pattern of treating ordinary trans lives as political provocations. A discussion about period products is not an extremist act. Feeding people and giving them underwear is not extremism. What is genuinely extreme is the level of organised hostility directed at an event designed to reduce stigma around a bodily function.

Trans people who menstruate exist. They have always existed. They deserve the same access to support, products, and community that anyone else does. Boston is trying to make sure they get it. I hope the event goes beautifully.

If there is a news story you would like me to cover then just let Sammy know.

Dr Helen Webberley is a gender specialist, medical educator, and founder of GenderGP. She writes on gender diversity, trans healthcare, and equality.