Letter: Transgender rights bill addresses equality, not just bathrooms

[Butterfly]

Letter: Transgender rights bill addresses equality, not just bathrooms
Andover Townsman
April 30, 2009


http://www.andovertownsman.com/opinion/local_story_120135653.html?keyword=topstory


I feel it is important to provide a rebuttal statement to a recent letter to the editor written by Mike Mosca in which he calls the Transgender rights bill "an outrage."¬ He also refers to House Bill 1728 as a "bathroom bill," a term commonly used by those who oppose the bill's passage and as a tactic to scare people into believing crime will become rampant in restrooms if passed.

Opponents of this equal rights bill fail to mention the other issues it addresses.¬ This bill, as summarized by the Human Rights Campaign, would (a) expand existing hate crimes laws to cover crimes based on gender identity or expression and (b) expand existing anti-discrimination laws to prohibit discrimination in employment, places of public accommodation, real estate, and education based on gender identity or expression.