In a stunning rebuke of anti-transgender lies and prejudice, the voters of Massachusetts have roundly defeated a measure that would have left tens of thousands of transgender Bay Staters with no legal protection from discrimination in public spaces.
The ballot initiative would have repealed a 2016 law protecting transgender people from discrimination in places like banks, government offices, hospitals, and restaurants. Without the law, nearly 30,000 would have been stripped of a crucial protection allowing them to participate as equal members in society.
The ballot initiative joins 300 other failed legislative attempts at the state level to restrict or repeal non-discrimination protections for transgender people in the last three years.
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, celebrated the victory:
“Massachusetts has set a clear precedent for every state and territory: When anyone comes for our rights, we and our allies will fight back and we will win. We will not be bullied and we will push against every myth and lie spread in the name of hatred. Particularly under a presidential administration hostile to the rights of transgender people, victories like this are all the more important. No transgender person should have to live their life in fear of prejudice, and we will always fight to protect strong, clear laws supporting our rights as full members of society.”
