OUR OPINION: Transgender rights must accommodate all
http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x1416815895/OUR-OPINION-Transgender-rights-must-accommodate-all5/1/13
Last week, the Massachusetts House of Representatives had a thoughtful debate on public accommodations for transgendered people. We commend them for doing so and for reaching a moderate compromise.
Unfortunately, what motivated the debate is not so commendable. In February, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester notified school principals that effective immediately, they are required to allow students in grades K-12 who self-identify as transgender to use the public school bathrooms and locker rooms of the gender with which they identify. Chester, as a representative of the Patrick administration, acted unilaterally after the Legislature removed public accommodations from the 2012 Transgender Rights Law. That was done out of consideration for the broader public's privacy interests following an outcry from Massachusetts voters.
