THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO VOTED TO PROTECT TRANSGENDER RIGHTS. WE MUST REMEMBER THAT ONE OF OUR LEGISLATORS ACTUALLY DECLARED HE’D BE VOTING AGAINST THIS QUESTION.

In 2016, Massachusetts adopted a statewide law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations based on gender identity.  A “yes” vote would keep in place the law, which prohibits discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations, including public restrooms and locker rooms. A “no” vote would repeal the law.

We want to encourage you to vote YES to protect these rights established by a law that was passed by our state legislature and signed into law by Governor Baker.

A recently released study that was started before the law was passed, provides evidence that the picture painted by those who want the law over-turned.

According to an article in the Boston Globe:

 Activists who want to undo that state law through a ballot question in the Nov. 6 election have focused their campaign message on bathroom safety concerns. They suggest that a new right for transgender people infringes on everyone else’s privacy rights and could be abused by men who want to prey upon women and children in ladies’ rooms. The vote is being closely watched nationwide because it offers the nation’s first public referendum on transgender rights in the state that first introduced gay marriage.

Transgender activists bristle at the idea that the campaign casts them as potential sexual offenders and have argued that there is no evidence that the law threatens anyone’s safety.

The study examined arrests and court records from municipalities here in MA that adopted local laws that are similar to the state law. The study shows there is “no relation between public transgender bathroom access and crimes that occur in bathrooms.”

Details about this study are in the Boston Globe article referenced above.

As a transgender woman once told us, “I am in more danger using a men’s room dressed as woman.”

This is going to be a close vote because there is so much misunderstanding about the transgender community.  Every vote counts.

PLEASE VOTE YES ON QUESTION 3, protect these lawfully established MA rights.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN TO VOTE YES ON QUESTION #3  VISIT

FREEDOM FOR ALL MA:  https://www.freedommassachusetts.org/

 

Watch this video by “Now This” from the perpective of those whose rights we want to protect: https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/the-rights-of-transgender-people-in-massachusetts-are-in-danger

 

Photo credit:  Boston Globe.