Frequently Asked Questions About the Transgender Equal Rights Bill

[Shana A]

Frequently Asked Questions About the Transgender Equal Rights Bill
by Courtesy of GLAD
Bay Windows Contributor
Tuesday Nov 22, 2011

http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=community&sc=community_guide&sc2=news&sc3=&id=127070

When does the Transgender Equal Rights Bill take effect?
After Gov. Deval Patrick signs the bill into law, it will be effective as of July 1, 2012.

[...]

What are public accommodations, and why aren't they included in the bill's protections?
The term "public accommodations" refers to any facility -- stores, restaurants, movie theatres, malls, public restrooms, etc. -- that opens itself up to the public for the purpose of providing goods or services. Though they were included in the original version of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, members of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary stripped the bill of the public accommodations provisions before moving the bill out of that committee. Since there is no formal report from the committee, it is unwise and impossible to say what motivated each of the members of the committee to take that step. Advocates of the bill have heard that the public accommodations were removed primarily because of unfounded fears stoked by our opponents that including them would somehow make women and children unsafe in public restrooms and a misunderstanding that the public accommodations provision somehow equated to protections for transgender people in bathrooms and locker rooms.

[Julie Marie]

Looks like the New Englanders are coming into the 21st century faster than the rest of the country.  CT just passed a TG law not too long ago.

But I'm with the Republican presidential candidates, we need to roll this country back to the way it was at the turn of the previous century.  Back when white men ruled!