BayWindows.com – by Representative Carl Sciortino – Bay Windows Contributor
On the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, I am proud to be the lead sponsor of a bill that would prohibit discrimination against people who are transgender and gender non-conforming. This bill is important to all of us in the entire LGBT community, and our inclusion of transgender protections is long overdue.
In 1989, Massachusetts was one of the first states to pass a law that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. At that time, transgender protections were left out of the bill because people generally believed that it would not pass if they were included. Massachusetts has a chance, 20 years later, to right the wrong that was done to transgender people by leaving them out of that original legislation.