She may be swimming upstream, but former GOP National Committee representative Chanel Prunier of Shrewsbury is gathering signatures for a 2018 ballot question aimed at repealing the newly enacted law that extends equal rights to our transgender friends and neighbors in Massachusetts.
According to an August 6 Boston Herald report, Prunier, who lost her seat as the state’s rep on the Republican National Committee back in the spring, “has signed on as chairwoman of the ballot question committee, Keep Massachusetts Safe, which will push to repeal the law [Governor Charlie] Baker signed earlier this month that bans discrimination against transgender people in public places, including restaurants, bathrooms and locker rooms.”
Kasey Suffredini, co-chairman of Freedom Massachusetts, an advocacy group that worked tirelessly to get the bill passed, said, “The folks who are trying to put this on the ballot are just out of step with the majority of voters in Massachusetts, including Republican voters, including Republican lawmakers and the governor himself.”
The Herald went on to report:
Prunier rose to the committee post in 2013, giving voice to the social conservative wing as it sought more control of the party, including in its successful push of a party platform two years ago that embraced traditional marriage.
Her perch atop the ballot question committee comes on the heels of her narrow loss for her committee post to state Rep. Keiko Orrall, who Baker publicly backed. It also came amid Baker’s own monthslong push to reshape the party through its state committee elections by supporting a slate of candidates — a move rankled party conservatives called unprecedented by a sitting governor.
It leaves the party staring down a clumsy position: Watching one of its leading conservative voices pushing to reverse a law its party leader backed, all while he is expected to try to hold the Corner Office for the party.
Asked Friday, the state party didn’t address where it stands on the law or the potential for its reversal.
“The MassGOP is supportive of the ballot initiative process as a way for the people of the Commonwealth to make their voices heard,” MassGOP spokesman Terry MacCormack said in a statement.
