Yes on 3: Going in on Transphobic Myths Regarding #TransLawMA

This editorial is part of my series on #TransLawMA, please find Part 1: The Vote to Uphold #TransLawMa is the Right Choice here.

There are many myths which surround Question 3/#TransLawMA. Today I will address three of them: that this law only affects bathrooms/public showers, that the law enables men to invade women’s spaces, and that this law is new. A quick warning that I will be discussing issues which include sexual assault.

When the Massachusetts transgender rights bill was signed in 2016, it immediate joined the list of similar bills in being mislabeled as a “bathroom bill.” This term is a deliberate histrionic label which simplifies the fact that Bill S.735 allows transgender people to be free from discrimination in all public areas (think: malls, restaurants, and bathrooms) to bathrooms and public showers.

The organization which sponsored the repeal initiative for Bill S.735, Keep MA Safe, states on their website that “[the bill] is bad for Massachusetts, particularly for the millions of women and children who are likely to be most affected by it.” As I mentioned in my first editorial on this subject, I am a cisgender woman. I am not a damsel in distress needing to be kept safe from my fellow women if they are transgender women. Sexual assault is illegal in Massachusetts; however, opponents to #TransLawMa seem to believe that bills such as this one are somehow keeping rapists from breaking the law and committing sexual assault in places they may not enter ("for the record, the bill forbade using transgender identities for “improper purpose”).

The argument that Bill S.735 is a new idea is untrue. Other states, including California, New York, and Minnesota, have already had public accommodation bills for several years.

Since writing my first #TransLawMa column, it has been brought to my attention that a Facebook page exists for people who support Yes on Three and live in the Dedham, Norwood, Westwood area. With the elections coming up, do you know the voter registration deadlines (and absentee voter information for college students and others)?

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

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

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