Transgender Equality

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Everyone should be able to attend school, work and live without fear of discrimination or harm - and yet every day, transgender people are at risk of violence and harassment, or of losing their job or housing, simply because of who they are.

People who are transgender face widespread prejudice, and yet there are no explicit protections in Massachusetts law to help them.

What sort of prejudice?

  • Transgender people are routinely fired by their employers either before or after transitioning from one sex to another.
  • Many others remain unemployed or underemployed as a result of discrimination, hostility and misunderstanding about transgender people.
  • Transgender people are often harassed in the workplace and treated unfairly in public accommodations, housing, and credit transactions.
  • Both transgender and non-transgender students are often bullied and lose educational opportunities when they don't conform to stereotypes of how boys and girls "should" look or act.
  • Transgender people are often targeted for property crimes, threats, assault, and murder, facing much higher rates of violence against them because of their gender identity.

This is unequal treatment, plain and simple - and it's time for Massachusetts to join the 13 other states, Washington D.C., and 81 counties and cities in providing legal protection for transgender people in our state.

In 2008, MassEquality is working with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition to:

  • Pass H1722, which would add gender identity and gender expression to existing non-discrimination laws affecting employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, public education and hate crimes.

This bill will make the protection of transgender people explicit, uniform, and visible to the general public. It will include gender identity and expression in the state's non-discrimination statute and will amend existing hate crime laws to explicitly protect people targeted for violence and harassment.

H1722 would strengthen the Commonwealth's commitment to all people, including those of diverse gender identity and expression, to provide equal protection under the law. It sends a clear message that in Massachusetts, we believe everyone deserves fair treatment and freedom from discrimination, crime and violence.

The time to pass H1722 is now - because our friends in the transgender community can't afford to wait any longer.