Thursday, May 12, 2016

Massachusetts Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Trans Protections Bill

You longtime TransGriot readers know I've been extremely critical about Massachusetts passing a public accommodations free trans rights bill in November 2011 that I considered problematic.

The words I used to describe its passage at the time was 'moldy civil rights bread.'

It's now five years later, and the Massachusetts State Senate finally got to trans human rights business and passed SB 735, which adds explicit public accommodations protections for trans residents of Massachusetts including parks, restaurants, hospitals and public restrooms..  

The bill passed on a lopsided 33-4 vote in the Democratically controlled Senate and now moves to the Democratically controlled  Massachusetts House.

"It is our responsibility to advance these provisions when there is clearly evidence that transgender people can and are being discriminated against,"said Senate President Stanley Rosenberg in a BuzzFeed News interview before the vote..

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) after a contentious April 13 meeting, so far has indicated after hemming and hawing for a while that he won't veto it if it hits his desk. .

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