An important bill that will protect transgendered Massachusettians passed both house and state legislature Wednesday and is pending signage into legislation by Gov. Deval Patrick, who supports the bill. The pending legislation will protect transgender people from hate crimes, violence, and discrimination.
“Transgender individuals in Massachusetts face unacceptably high levels of violence and discrimination in their daily lives,” said state Rep. Carl Sciortino Jr. (D). “This bill will extend our statutory civil rights and hate crime protections to the transgender community.”
The bill was filed in 2007 but endured several oppositions from groups such as the Massachusetts Family Institute which aimed to stop all political efforts for the equalization of homosexual people in the state.
Nearly 33,000 people in Massachusetts identify as transgender, and almost 97 percent of transgender people indicate they were harassed or mistreated at work as a result of the gender identity, according to a 2009 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
“I think it’s very difficult for transgender people to be out as transgender,” said Gunner Scott, president of the Transgender Political Coalition, a main proponent of the bill. “They risk losing employment, housing, credit, family support, even the opportunity to go to school.”
If the bill is signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick, bullies and perpetrators will face criminal offenses if they are convicted of harassment, abuse, discrimination, or violence against transgender people, similar to the way penalties are assessed for those who target people based on the state’s protected rights such as race or religion.
“Internationally, more than one transgender person a month is murdered for who they are,” said Scott, adding that 11 such cases have been documented in Massachusetts since 1979.
This is an epic movement for transgender people in Massachusetts and hallmarks this month’s Transgender Day of Remembrance which is commemorated on Nov. 20.
