Statehouse hearing scheduled on transgender rights bills

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2015/10/statehouse_hearing_scheduled_on_transgender_rights_bills

Statehouse hearing scheduled on transgender rights bills
Monday, October 5, 2015
Associated Press

BOSTON — U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy is among those planning to testify at a public hearing on a pair of bills that would extend non-discrimination protections to transgender people in public spaces in Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Democrat and other supporters of the bills want to expand a 2011 state law protecting transgender people from discrimination in the workplace and housing by adding "gender identity" to the state's civil rights laws.

Advocates say it's time to broaden the law to include protections for transgender people in public places such as hospitals, malls, restaurants, parks and government offices.

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Kennedy has said Massachusetts lags behind 17 other states and Washington, D.C., which have updated public accommodations laws to include transgender people. Among the states with tougher protections, he said, are several in New England: Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island.