Left: Holly Ryan of the Mass. Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC)Bay Windows is reporting that H1722, the "Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes" bill, will come up for a hearing before the Judiciary Committee in late January or early February, according to State Rep. Carl Sciortino. Sciortino advises the GLBT community never to compromise on their demands, but always ask for everything they can imagine: "...the LGBT community should always push their lawmakers to deliver the ideal, even if those lawmakers claim it cannot be done."
If you think things are bad now, get ready for unthinkable craziness on the street, in your place of work, in the courts. Some examples: If a "transgender" person applies for (or holds) a job in your company, and is not hired (or is fired) for some reason completely divorced from his sexuality, watch out for a lawsuit anyhow. We'll see girls' bathrooms in public elementary schools used by boys -- if they say they feel like girls that day. Women's health club locker rooms will be forced to allow she-males. If you can imagine it, it will come -- because "gender identity or expression", the fanciful concept (not reality) protected by this bill, is undefined. If passed, this bill will bring further chaos to Massachusetts (then move on to the rest of the country).
If you think things are bad now, get ready for unthinkable craziness on the street, in your place of work, in the courts. Some examples: If a "transgender" person applies for (or holds) a job in your company, and is not hired (or is fired) for some reason completely divorced from his sexuality, watch out for a lawsuit anyhow. We'll see girls' bathrooms in public elementary schools used by boys -- if they say they feel like girls that day. Women's health club locker rooms will be forced to allow she-males. If you can imagine it, it will come -- because "gender identity or expression", the fanciful concept (not reality) protected by this bill, is undefined. If passed, this bill will bring further chaos to Massachusetts (then move on to the rest of the country).
From Bay Windows, "Trans Activists Call for an End to Violence" [what violence?]:
... The afternoon before the Day of Remembrance ceremony MTPC held a town hall meeting at the church to talk about its political priorities, particularly House Bill 1722, a bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws. Rep. Carl Sciortino, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the bill will likely come before the judiciary committee for a hearing in late January or early February.
Sciortino urged the audience to be uncompromising in their push for full equality. Citing the federal fight for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, in which House leadership passed the bill after stripping out trans-inclusive language, Sciortino said that the LGBT community should always push their lawmakers to deliver the ideal, even if those lawmakers claim it cannot be done.
"Elected officials in that crazy world in the State House or in Congress down in D.C., we’re forced sometimes, given circumstances, to make compromises. But as a community you should never, ever say it’s okay to compromise on civil rights. If our organizations and we as individuals go to our elected officials say, it’s okay to compromise me now as long as we get there eventually, you’re not doing justice then to push them to the next level," said Sciortino. He said that the fight for H.B. 1722 will be challenging and that the LGBT community needs to be prepared to stand firm and push their lawmakers to back full equality for the transgender community.
... The afternoon before the Day of Remembrance ceremony MTPC held a town hall meeting at the church to talk about its political priorities, particularly House Bill 1722, a bill that would add gender identity and expression to the state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws. Rep. Carl Sciortino, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the bill will likely come before the judiciary committee for a hearing in late January or early February.
Sciortino urged the audience to be uncompromising in their push for full equality. Citing the federal fight for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, in which House leadership passed the bill after stripping out trans-inclusive language, Sciortino said that the LGBT community should always push their lawmakers to deliver the ideal, even if those lawmakers claim it cannot be done.
"Elected officials in that crazy world in the State House or in Congress down in D.C., we’re forced sometimes, given circumstances, to make compromises. But as a community you should never, ever say it’s okay to compromise on civil rights. If our organizations and we as individuals go to our elected officials say, it’s okay to compromise me now as long as we get there eventually, you’re not doing justice then to push them to the next level," said Sciortino. He said that the fight for H.B. 1722 will be challenging and that the LGBT community needs to be prepared to stand firm and push their lawmakers to back full equality for the transgender community.
Holly Ryan, co-chair of MTPC, said the loss of gender identity language in ENDA shows the importance of pushing for those protections at the state level. "The reason we need to pass this now is the federal government isn’t going to protect you now, but the Massachusetts legislature can," said Ryan.
