Heroic Leadership Still Exists, Trust Me

You don’t often get a chance to meet one of your heroines. But it’s even rarer to meet an elected official you’d call one, let alone see her leadership qualities on display.

Last week, I walked into a South End Boston home and met my governor, Maura Healey. What she lacks in height, she makes up for in almost every other category.

While these things matter: A firm handshake. Looking me straight in the eye while asking, “Tell me about yourself.” Remembering both my name and profession later when answering my question in front of the assembled crowd.

What truly blew me away were the other people in the room and how she shared not just space but expertise with them.

Gov Maura Healey speaking at a Pride event

I’m guessing there were 50 of us, tops. A mixture of young and old, queer and straight, white and brown. Because of who organized the event, I recognized some faces because of their presence in MA’s LGBTQ+ rights movement. Most I did not. However, I learned quickly that I was surrounded by fellow entrepreneurs and people finding creative ways to solve problems. In addition to being advocates for trans rights and representation, my fellow attendees are creating programs to improve access to healthy food and protect public green spaces. The room was full of leaders, not just donors.

Gov. Healey delivered her stump speech from the landing of a narrow staircase. She started by accepting the expressed gratitude from trans leader Dallas Ducar. Ducar shared a story from 2025 of Gov. Healey convening a group of governors at their annual DC meetup to workshop how to protect trans health care at the state level. Healey talked passionately about how important it is not to scapegoat any member of the LGBTQ+ community for struggles in MA or for political defeats within her Democratic party. She talked about differences between herself and her opponent, and she urged us to share this information and then get our disenchanted friends and neighbors to the polls. She pointed to Jennifer Levi, one of the faces I did recognize as a legal expert in the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights, confirming that they had been working together for over 20 years.

Yes, she was preaching to the choir. Yes, we knew some, if not all, of these facts already. But then something incredible happened that I will forever file away as a model of leadership.

She opened up for questions, first taking one on the environment, and then, noticing my raised hand, she asked for mine.

I noted that MA’s Attorney General, Andrea Campbell, is taking heat from members of the trans community about her refusal to prosecute health care facilities (like Fenway and Baystate Health) for shuttering or severely limiting their gender-affirming care (GAC) programs for minors. (Read this Boston.com piece for more information). I don’t share their opinions, I told her, but there are young people in my practice who do. I wanted to know how to answer them.

Gov. Healey emphasized her support for Campbell’s stance on not attacking health care providers but instead going after the federal administration responsible for threatening to cut their funding. She explained how she and other governors identified ways that states could carve out GAC from their federally funded health centers and create satellite facilities, effectively shielding this type of care from the federal government.

Her answer was expansive and detailed. After pausing, she yielded the floor when Levi stepped forward to address the question. Levi emphasized that MA was indeed fighting back against the federal threats without harming those who provide needed care. The crowd literally parted to let Levi step forward and speak to me. Their comments were immediately followed by Ducar, who also stepped forward to offer personal support to anyone in my practice (or others) unable to access care in the state. She also reminded the crowd that Healey devoted $8.5 million to cover the cost of hormone therapy and mental health services to minors on MassHealth and CHIP. (This fund would replace Medicaid coverage for trans health care that is expected to end in October of this year due to new federal rules).

I fear some of the magic is lost in my translation of the moment, so indulge me with a moment of emphasis. Healey’s answer to my question wasn’t scripted. It was the organic result of a leader who welcomes the expertise of the very community she is trying to serve.

Levi and Ducar aren’t merely allies. Levi has decades of experience in LGBTQ+ legal battles, working on two landmark marriage equality cases and currently co-counsel on three legal battles against Trump’s executive orders forcing trans women in prison into men’s facilities. Ducar, a trans woman, psychiatric nurse practitioner, and educator, is the founding President and CEO of Transhealth (a critically important health care provider for MA residents and anyone seeking trans health care in the US) and is the current Chief Strategy Officer at Fenway Health. Healey didn’t meet with these two trailblazers once and then make their recommendations her own. Instead, I witnessed, in real time, the coalitions they have built together.

That is the leadership I, and many like me, hunger for. It shouldn’t be incredible or unreasonable to ask this of our elected officials, whose job is literally to represent the interests of the electorate. That said, it was a magical moment, and not just for me. Person after person thanked me for my question as I made my way to the door. What transpired within a 90-minute fundraiser electrified the room.

It didn’t hurt that Healey answered me by name, thanked me later for my question, and shook my hand a second time before leaving. Not gonna lie.

But my biggest takeaway is that government can work. And when it does, you feel seen, known, and valued. Feeling those things injects hope into an otherwise bleak landscape. It cemented for me that leaders, heroines even, do exist.