Jul 2, 2009 10:07 pm US/Eastern
Ad Campaign Fights Transgender 'Bathroom Bill'
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
They call themselves transgendered -- people who are attempting to become members of the opposite sex.
Thirteen states have laws to protect them from discrimination. But an effort on Beacon Hill is being fought with an ad campaign that calls it "the bathroom bill."
So what's the bathroom bill?
It's a reference to the fact that the transgendered civil rights bill would prohibit gender-based discrimination in facilities like public bathrooms. And opponents of the measure have seized on that detail as a way to dramatize their resistance.
Perhaps you've heard the disturbing radio ad.
"Pretty soon, you won't want her to go into a bathroom by herself anymore. Why? Didn't you know Beacon Hill is about to make it legal for men to use women's bathrooms?"
"I think the scare tactics our opponents used for gay marriage they continue to use for transgender civil rights," said Somerville State Rep. Carl Sciortino.
Sciortino says the Mass. Family Institute ought to be ashamed for demonizing his effort to extend civil rights protection to transgendered people as a sketchy attempt to allow opposite-sex bathroom incursions.
"There's nothing in this bill that allows someone to wake up one day, throw on the opposite sex's clothes, walk into a public facility and commit a crime," he said.
But the Institute's president, Kris Mineau, says it's Sciortino who's misleading the public, noting the bill would allow access to female facilities by males who simply feel like they're women.
"It's irrespective of operations, it's how the person feels about their gender identity. And so we say that this could be abused by anybody," Mineau said.
Sciortino cites anecdotal evidence of harsh discrimination against the transgendered, but this is a debate with few hard facts on either side.
Sciortino notes that the Institute is the same group that led the charge against gay marriage here, claiming the sky would fall if we legalized it. Mineau notes his group predicted gay marriage would be just the beginning of a push to erase an array of traditional social customs.
A Beacon Hill hearing on this bill is set for July 14.
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