The whole country is looking to Massachusetts on the Nov. 6 Midterm Elections as the Bay State becomes the first state in the United States to vote on transgender protections.
From community newspaper letters to the editors to major media like the Huffington and Washington Posts, everyone is looking to Massachusetts ballot question 3, which will uphold—or repeal—state law protecting transgender people from discrimination in public places like restaurants and retail shops, doctors offices and pharmacies.
The law passed by a bipartisan vote in the legislature and signed by Governor Charlie Baker in 2016, after which a small, extreme right-wing group gathered enough signatures to put the question on the ballot. Our vote here sets a national precedent that other states will look to and follow.
To uphold the law, Bay Staters must get to the polls on Nov. 6 and vote Yes on Question 3.
And to help Bay State voters get to the polls on Nov. 6 to vote yes on question 3, two foundations all the way across the country have pledged matching donations up to $30K for Freedom Massachusetts, the coalition supporting the Yes on 3 campaign—Washington’s Pride Foundation and Free and Fair Montana.
According to Mason Dunn, Yes on 3 campaign co-chair:
People from across the country are pitching in during these final days because they know that what happens in Massachusetts on Nov. 6 will set the tone for years of fights across the country. Washington is stepping up specifically because they remember how nationwide support helped their own fight for marriage equality in 2012.
If opponents of transgender equality can roll back protections in “liberal Massachusetts”—their words—they’ll use that argument in every state, city and town in the country that currently has protections or would consider passing protections in the future.
Repealing Massachusetts’ protections for transgender people could set back the entire movement for LGBT equality at a time of unprecedented attacks on us from our federal government.
We have to put every ounce of fight we have into these final days—Yes on 3 has to get this $30k match. Give now and help make it happen.
