Inside the Trans Period Pride Event That Made Angry Protestors Lose It

Mass NOW Executive Director Sasha Goodfriend reflects on the backlash to this year’s Trans Period Pride, and the joyful, necessary community building at the heart of the event.

This summer, Mass NOW and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition hosted our third annual Trans Period Pride, bringing together trans and nonbinary community members to talk openly about periods, bodies, and menstrual equity.

But before the event even began, Trans Period Pride became the target of a wave of online transphobic outrage.

In a new op-ed for THEM, “Inside the Trans Period Pride Event That Made Angry Protestors Lose It,” Mass NOW Executive Director Sasha Goodfriend shares what happened when an event about menstrual equity became a flashpoint for anti-trans backlash and, more importantly, what that outrage missed.

Beyond the headlines and hateful comments was something much more powerful: people coming together in community, sharing resources and experiences, and creating a space where trans and nonbinary people who menstruate could feel seen and supported.

For Mass NOW, that work is inseparable from menstrual equity. Period poverty and menstrual stigma affect people of many genders, and everyone deserves access to the products, information, healthcare, and community they need to manage their periods with dignity.

As attacks on transgender people continue across the country, we believe creating spaces like Trans Period Pride matters more than ever. We’re proud to keep building a menstrual equity movement where everyone who menstruates belongs.

Read Sasha’s full op-ed in THEM: ⁠Inside the Trans Period Pride Event That Made Angry Protestors Lose It

Trans Period Pride, 2026