Governor Maura Healey has appointed a male transgender activist to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women.

Healey appointed Giselle Byrd, a male who identifies as a woman, to serve as a commissioner. Byrd is executive director of the Theater Offensive in Boston and has worked in pro-transgenderism advocacy roles. The commission announced the appointment in August alongside another Healey appointee.

Mary-dith Tuitt, who chairs the commission, said the new commissioners strengthen the panel.

“These leaders bring a fresh perspective to the work of the MCSW with a diverse range of personal and professional experience,” Tuitt said in a press release.

She said their involvement “will only enhance the commission’s ability to focus on our mission and agenda to impact change for all women and girls across the Commonwealth.”

The Massachusetts Family Institute criticized the appointment.

Here is what the organization wrote in a Facebook post:

Maura Healey APPOINTS biological MAN to State Commissioner of prominent state-funded "women's rights" organization!

Is this a Babylon Bee headline? No, in fact, this is the logical conclusion of feminism in Massachusetts society. Feminism suggests that women can do anything men can do. If this is true, then there is basically no difference between the sexes. If there no distinction between male and female, then why can't a woman become a man, or vice versa?

If men and women are basically the same, then this man, Giselle Byrd, is perfectly justified in wearing the female form like a Halloween costume. Our state thought that when we threw God out of the public square, we would become more sophisticated and advanced. Instead, we bought a regressive lie mascaraeding as progressive truth.

Massachusetts has rejected God's perfect design for marriage and sexuality. This is the sad result.

The move also received pushback on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly responded to the news by saying, "Men make the best women, we all know that."

Former Vanderbilt political scientist Carol M. Swain is also unhappy with the development.

"Liberal women have allowed men to erase their biological identity and reverse their historic gains," she posted on X (Twitter). "The joke is on the feminist movement."

Meanwhile, Massachusetts state Representative Marc Lombardo (R-Billerica) said moves like this are why he supports voting Healey out of office next year.

"This is the Massachusetts democratic party under Maura Healey’s leadership … a man gets appointed to the MA Commission on the Status of Women," he posted on X (Twitter). "It’s time for a new Governor (Brian @ShortsleeveMA) and for common sense in Beacon Hill."

And New Hampshire state Representative Lisa Mazur (R-Goffstown) didn't like the news, either.

"Oh come on," Mazur posted on X (Twitter). "What a slap in the face to real women. Enough of this crap."

The Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women was created in 1998. It focuses on policy issues affecting women and girls, and the state's web site describes its mission as promoting “fundamental freedoms, basic human rights, and the full enjoyment of life for all women and girls.” The agency lists gender identity as one of the categories it protects.

A spokesman for Healey's office and the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women could not be reached for comment this past weekend.