The Massachusetts state Senate on Thursday passed a transgender rights bill that provides non-discrimination protections for trans people in the area of public accommodations, the exact type of non-discrimination protections other states have been pointedly denying to their trans citizens.
Senate Bill 735 passed by a wide margin of 33 to 4 and is expected to pass the House.
Mass. Senate passes transgender rights bill 33-4.
— State House News (@statehousenews) May 12, 2016
"In Massachusetts we are civil rights pioneers by nature" – Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz in opening comments on transgender rights bill.
— State House News (@statehousenews) May 12, 2016
Democrats argued the legislation advanced basic civil rights for transgender people, blocking several amendments from Republicans that would have weakened the legislation.
“It is our responsibility to advance these provisions when there is clearly evidence that transgender people can and are being discriminated against,” Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, a Democrat, told BuzzFeed News before the vote.
The bill appears poised to pass the House and reach the governor's desk.
House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo told reporters last week that he likes the bill as passed by a joint judiciary committee, suggesting he is prepared to bring the legislation to a floor vote.
While Republican Governor Charlie Baker had initially signaled ambivalence on the bill (which led to him being booed off stage at an LGBT event), he appears more favorably disposed to the bill at present:
Lizzy Guyton, a spokesman for Baker, told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the governor “will carefully review a bill should the legislature act,” adding that he “believes no one should be discriminated against based on gender identity.” The governor also supports existing state laws banning transgender discrimination in housing and employment, Guyton added.
[Top photo via Dominic Holden / Twitter]
