House Bill 1722 has lots of hidden dangers, such as enshrining "gender identity or expression" as a civil right. If H1722 is passed, Mass. public accommodations law would add that phrase as a new category of people against whom no discrimination (including public verbal opposition) is permitted. The law declares:
“All persons shall have the right to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities and privileges of any place of public accommodation, resort or amusement subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable to all persons. This right is recognized and declared to be a civil right.”
So, as we've already noted, "public accommodations" as defined in Mass. law can mean almost any place outside of private homes. Hospitals are specifically named and therefore will have to perform sex-change surgeries, because they will be a civil right! Adoption agencies will have to place children with transsexual parents, because that will be a civil right. Men who think they're women will be able to use the women's restroom or locker room, because that will be a civil right. Transsexual porn writers will be able to hold conferences at any hotel they choose, because it will be their civil right. And since the phrase "gender identity or expression" is not really defined in the bill, who knows what else could be argued to be a civil right?
