Coalition for Marriage to hold anti-trans lobby day
by Ethan Jacobs
associate editor
Monday Mar 23, 2009
http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=blog&sc2=news&sc3=&id=88783On April 7 transgender people and their allies from across the state will come to Beacon Hill to lobby for the transgender rights bill, but the very next day their opponents, led by the anti-LGBT Coalition for Marriage and Family, will hold their own lobby day in opposition to the bill. The transgender rights bill would expand the state's non-discrimination and hate crimes laws to cover cases of discrimination or violence related to gender identity or expression. The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition will be leading the lobby day in support of the bill.
The Coalition for Marriage and Family, which waged an unsuccessful campaign in 2007 to ban same-sex marriage through a constitutional amendment, has made the defeat of the transgender rights bill one of its top priorities. In a March 23 e-mail to supporters the Coalition wrote, "If you can attend one Coalition event this year - this should be it! We hope to have a large crowd, especially since our opponents will have THEIR Lobby Day the day before."