Pending the approving signature of Governor Charlie Baker, Massachusetts may well have its legal expansion of the state’s public accommodations law, which includes transgender people, on the books by October 1.
The state’s senate and house reconciled their two versions of the law today, July 6. Earlier this year, the governor publicly affirmed that he would sign the bill if brought to him by the legislators.
For a breakdown of exactly what this bill would do, check out GLAD’s Q&A website posting.
“This is a huge victory,” longtime advocate Arline Isaacson told the Boston Globe this afternoon. “It’s been a long time in coming. And it’s phenomenally important to the trans community, and phenomenally important to making us a better state, a more fair state.”
In coming to agreement, reported the Globe today:
One place the Senate and House had disagreed was when the bill would take effect. The compromise measure will be fully effective on Oct. 1, 2016, should Governor Charlie Baker sign it into law.
Another area of disagreement was language, included by the House, that would require the attorney general to issue guidance on when and how action can be taken against people who assert gender identity for “an improper purpose.” It would also mandate that the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination make rules and regulations protecting transgender people from discrimination.
That language, slightly tweaked, was included in the compromise. Legislators say the guidance will address several concerns: safety worries from opponents who fear male sexual predators, under the guise of being transgender women, could enter women’s restrooms and locker rooms; anxiety from businesses wondering how and when they can legally ask a person if there is some question about their gender; and concern from transgender people that they might be unreasonably harassed for proof of their gender identity.
The House and Senate are poised Thursday to enact the measure in up-or-down votes, according to two top State House sources.
