Christine Caulfield
I sat down with Christine Caulfield in the formal vault of Safe Combinations, joined by her sweet pooch Daisy. She was dropping off a stack of books for the Equality Community Center’s library. Christine is a familiar face for folks who come through the ECC, helping with a variety of projects, policies, or serving in her major capacity as the facilitator of the 35+ Group and Chair of the 35+ Caucus.
Involvement has come naturally to Christine all throughout her life. Being involved was a good way to meet new people at other schools. These days, on top of her work with MTN, she serves on the board of directors of Greater Portland Health. But it’s clear that the true work of her life came while she was a history teacher in the Gorham Public School District.
Before becoming a teacher, Christine had moved throughout several different lives. Her struggles with her identity would follow her wherever she found herself. She cites it when she describes her decision to leave college and enlist in the Marine Corps. In the Marines, she easily excelled (this is a constant throughout Christine’s life — when she applies herself to something, she succeeds). But after a certain point, the discomfort returned.
“I did really well, and then I was starting to struggle with my identity again. I’d go down to Wilmington, North Carolina, when my partner was gone. I had a bus locker that you could put a quarter in and store something for weeks, and I had a change of clothes in there, and I would just go out and it felt great. But I realized that I had to get out of the Marines, because that was a felony.” Crossdressing would earn you a bad conduct discharge from the Marines, which is equivalent to a felony (and felons lose their right to vote!). Deciding to leave the Marines was what led Christine and her spouse to build their lives in Maine. They chose to move to Portland by flipping a coin.
It was in Maine that Christine first became a teacher, after a successful but unhappy stint doing “business.” When Christine talks about teaching, her whole demeanor lights up. Her philosophy in the classroom was to meet students’ curiosity and challenge traditional narratives in history and the American Story. “I cared about what I was doing,” Christine explained. “And I thought a lot about what it meant to be given that kind of responsibility.”
In her time as a teacher, Christine was a nominee for Maine Teacher of the Year, facilitated the Student Government, coached volleyball, soccer, and track, and director of the drama club. At the beginning of class, she would ask the students if they had anything that they wanted to discuss with their class time, departing from her lesson plan to cover current events, or talk about college application stress.
During her tenure as a high school teacher, she began her transition. She remembers the school administration and superintendent being supportive. “My room was already a safe place for all the queer kids at lunch time,” she reminisced. After she came out, “it was standing room only.”
Coming out wasn’t an easy journey - after beginning to unpack her identity in therapy, she began the eight year process of coming out to her community, family, and students. It wasn’t easy. It was during this era that she first got involved with MaineTransNet. She started going to support groups in 2013. Facilitating groups came shortly after. “Facilitating is a natural extension of teaching,” Christine explains, when asked about how she got started in the role. She was the facilitator as the 35+ group decided to change their name from “the Elders Group,” to more accurately represent the breadth of members. “It just really encouraged people to come. There’s a lot of diversity in that group. And eventually we ran out of room and had like 20, 25 people show up in session. And we're creating a real caucus with a voice and a lot of diversity.”
Along with facilitating 35+, Christine is an active member of the Policy Team, and facilitates gender and sexuality workshops for adults - most recently at the Cumberland Public Library. She served a short stint as the MTN treasurer, but had to step back to actively manage her health. She recently helped get a project going to help community members get their end-of-life documents in order, which is being finished by EqualityMaine. “I always felt like I was kind of a utility person,” she explained, “I mostly just volunteered for odd events. Dinners, talent shows or art exhibits.”
She may describe herself as a “utility person,” but Christine is much more than that. A role model and friend, Christine and Daisy’s participation in the trans community in Portland is a gift. As usual, when it comes to her support of her community, she goes over and above.
