Mass. transgender equity bill fuels bathroom fight
By STEVE LeBLANC – 6 hours ago
The bill would accomplish that by adding "gender identity or expression" to a list of protected categories in the state's civil rights and hate crime laws. "Gender identity" refers to an inner sense of being male or female. "Gender expression" refers to the expression of that feeling in clothing, make-up and speech.
The bill is stirring fierce opposition from critics who say it would lead to a breakdown in privacy in restrooms, locker rooms and other single-gender facilities. They also content it would open women's bathrooms to sexual predators
Gov. Deval Patrick supports the bill, calling it a "a very straightforward question of human and civil rights."
He also dismissed arguments that the bill might make it easier for sex offenders to lurk in women's bathrooms.
"Somehow we manage at home with bathrooms that don't have 'men' and 'women' on them. And we can probably figure that out on public spaces, too," Patrick said.
Timothy Tracey, a lawyer with the conservative Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, told members of the Committee on the Judiciary that the bill infringes on the religious rights of those who believe that men and women are different.
"The First Amendment mandates that no individual should be required to affirm, in act, word, or deed, that a man is a woman, or a woman is a man, against their sincerely held religious beliefs," Tracey said. "Yet this is precisely what (the bill) will do."
Massachusetts Rep. Carl Sciortino, the bill's sponsor along with state Sen. Benjamin Downing, D-Pittsfield, said the bill is designed to expand the state's civil rights laws and is not a threat to public safety.
"What it allows for is that every person, including transgender people, can use facilities that are consistent with their gender identity in a safe and private manner," the Medford Democrat said.
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