BayWindows.com – by Laura Kiritsy – Associate Editor
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has long been an unwavering advocate for LGBT issues, not to mention as familiar a face on the Boston Pride Parade route as the drag queens and gay police officers. So it should come as no surprise that on Jan. 4 Menino quietly petitioned the state legislature’s judiciary committee co-chairs, state Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty and state Sen. Robert Creedon, to support H.B. 1722, which would expand the state’s non-discrimination and hate crimes statutes to include protections based on gender identity and expression. In letters sent to both O’Flaherty and Creedon, Menino notes that he signed similar legislation for the City of Boston in 2002. “All citizens of the Commonwealth deserve equal protection against discrimination,” Menino wrote, “and I hope that you will help spread that message with passage of this legislation.” The bill, filed by state Reps. Carl Sciortino and Byron Rushing, is awaiting action by the judiciary committee.