Earlier this month, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, which outlaws discrimination against transgender individuals in education, housing, employment and credit. The law also updates the language of the state's hate crime laws to protect transgender individuals.
The bill originally included language against discrimination in what are defined as "public accommodations," including hospitals, hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, stores, gas stations, recreation facilities and parks. Before the vote on the bill, though, lawmakers removed this provision.
The revised, passed and signed version of the bill fails to give transgender people the full rights they deserve. Transgender individuals no doubt should be protected from discrimination in places defined as public accommodations. After long fights, people of various races, religions and sexual orientations have legal protection from discrimination in Massachusetts when they shop for their groceries and eat in restaurants, and transgender people deserve the same peace of mind and civil liberties. Even though significant progress has been made in the fight for transgender rights, these individuals can still be subject to expulsion from public places based on their gender identity; this discrimination remains legally permissible.
The wording of the provision in question, before it was cut, read that "sex-segregated facilities" would have to grant admission to people based on gender identity rather than biological sex. Due to this provision, opponents called the bill "the bathroom bill" arguing that it would allow biologically male individuals, transgender or not, to access women's restrooms and locker rooms.
The Daily recognizes the potential discomfort to some that the bill's coverage of restrooms and locker rooms could have caused and recognizes that removing the language may have been essential in getting the bill passed before the winter recess.
Why, then, did concerned lawmakers not simply clarify that, for the time being, this law would not apply to restrooms and locker rooms, rather than places that happen to have such facilities available? Last time we checked, restaurants, parks and stores aren't segregated by gender.
That's not to say we don't commend members of the state legislature and Patrick for fighting for and passing this bill. The state's estimated 33,000 transgender individuals have long reported high rates of discrimination in employment and occurrences of hate crimes. Fighting this discrimination is an essential component of the overall struggle for universal civil rights, and this bill is a step in the right direction. The Daily hopes that Patrick will live up to his promise to "come back around to public accommodations," and that transgender individuals are granted full anti-discrimination rights in the near future.
