Transgender Public Accommodations Bill Remains Stalled In Mass. Legislature
By Steve Brown 4/1/2016
http://www.wbur.org/2016/04/01/massachusetts-transgender-public-accommodations-bill-stalledAs North Carolina faces backlash over the approval of a bill that blocks local governments from passing anti-discrimination rules to protect gay and transgender people, a bill to expand legal protections for those populations here in Massachusetts remains bottled up in a legislative committee.
With only four months left in the Legislature's annual session, time is running out to pass the measure, which seeks to prohibit discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations — and a lot of questions remain.
The bill (S735, H1577) picks up where a previous law left off almost four and a half years ago. That law, enthusiastically signed by then-Gov. Deval Patrick in 2011, extended protections for transgender people by banning discrimination in the areas of housing and employment.
A controversial provision to expand that law to include public accommodations — meaning restaurants, lodging, gender-segregated changing rooms and restrooms — was removed from the 2011 bill to ensure passage of the broader legislation.
========================
So sad that this is going on in our progressive state...
