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Mass passes equal rights law for transgender people, does not include public accomodations
The Massachusetts Transgender Equal Rights Act protected transgender people from discrimination in housing, employment, credit, and public education. However, legislators took out a provision of the bill regarding discrimination in public places. So restaurants could still refuse to hire and/or fire someone based on gender identity, and a transgender person could still be denied acces to a public restroom. -
Bill gains momentum, businesses give support
The Boston Globe reported that companies big and small like Google, Ropes and Gray, State Street, and Flour Bakery, and even the Massachusetts Hospital Association and YWCA, have voiced support for the legislation. -
Bill is debated in Beacon Hill hearing
Supporters of the bill, like Attorney General Maura Healey, debated with opposers of the bill, like Republican state representative Jim Lyons, over whether gender neutral bathrooms would increase or diminish the privacy of Massachusetts citizens. -
For now, bill stalls on Beacon Hill
With lawmakers are in winter recess now, the debate surrounding the bill is expected to drift into 2016.