Yes on 3: "Bathroom Bills" and Sex Crimes Not Related

Please email me with any story ideas, events, etc. I want to know what my fellow Westwoodians are doing!The views expressed here are the views of myself, your Patch Mayor, Heather T. Ford and not Westwood Patch.This editorial is part of my series on #TransLawMA, please find Part 1: The Vote to Uphold #TransLawMa is the Right Choice here, Part 2: Myths re #TransLawMa here, and Part 3: The 9% Challenge here.

To open this piece, I want to remind people that the concept of this law being about nothing but transpeople using the bathroom is a myth. It has been crafted by the opposition to laws such as #TransLawMA to create panic and fear.

That being said, a new study based in Massachusetts from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that there is no correlation between laws such as those we are voting on in Question 3 and crimes in bathrooms.

The study states:

"Opponents of public accommodations laws that include gender identity protections often claim that the laws leave women and children vulnerable to attack in public restrooms," said study author Amira Hasenbush, a law and policy fellow at the Williams Institute, in a statement. "But this study provides evidence that these incidents are rare and unrelated to the laws."

Want to do more to support YesonThree, TransLawMa and transpeople in Massachusetts? Here's the link to the local Facebook group Dedham-Westwood-Norwood Coalition for Transgender Equality, as well as an event coming up on October 3 at Temple Beth David in Westwood.

Please email me with any story ideas, events, etc. I want to know what my fellow Westwoodians are doing!

The views expressed here are the views of myself, your Patch Mayor, Heather T. Ford and not Westwood Patch.