25 Massachusetts

Personal Reflections

Tristen L: Growing up in Massachusetts, I recognize my privilege to be in a state that supports my queer identity. Though the journey might have been hard to come out, accept myself, or tell my parents and family, at the end of the day, I was not worried about my rights to be queer. Walking around my neighborhood in Brookline, MA, it was common to see pride flags up on businesses, queer book celebrations at the Brookline Booksmith, and pride parades all throughout June. Being queer was normalized, and I was lucky enough to be surrounded by queer rolemodels in the communities I found. My hope is that one day all youth across the country, and the world, will be able to feel as safe as I did as a queer youth in Massachusetts.

Corinne S: Growing up as a gay woman in the suburbs of Boston, I had a similar experience to Tristen and I would also like to acknowledge my privilege in growing up in a state like Massachusetts. The concept of queerness was introduced to me at a very young age and I was always told I would be loved and supported regardless of my sexuality. There was still a fair amount of homophobia in Canton, nasty comments from boys on the football team, and worried friends about unsupportive religious parents. Still, there was an overall normalization and celebration of queerness in my community. A pride flag has been hanging on the tree in our front yard long before both my sister and I came out. There was never a concern that my rights would be taken away by my state, and I felt safe and supported in my town as a queer youth in Massachusetts, something I am so beyond grateful for and simultaneously so aware that this is not the experience for many queer youths across the country, including others in this class.

Headlines

“Healey-Driscoll Administration Reaffirms Protections for Gender-Affirming Care Providers and Patients” : June of 2023 Gov. Maura Healey declares Massachusetts a “safe haven” for transgender people of all ages, reassuring the public of her administration’s dedication to the protection of gender-affirming care amidst the rise of bans across the nation.

Why Is Provincetown So Gay?: Started with the opening of an art school in 1899, which opened a pipeline of writers, thespians, creatives, and left-wing radicals, word spread to the LGBTQ+ community and by 1920 the town was seen as a safe, accepting space, though queerness was still kept under the radar until the 50s, followed by an outpouring of queer activism, art, and politics after Stonewall, putting Provincetown on the map internationally as a “gay mecca”.

Laws

1990: Protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment (public and private), housing, credit, service, education, insurance

2011: the 1990 law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation is amended to include the protection of transgender individuals against discrimination based on gender identity and expression

May 17th, 2004: Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize gay marriage after the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health six months earlier.

Information on gender identity and expression from the Mass Gov website:

The Mass Gov website has an impressively comprehensive page dedicated to Massachusetts law regarding gender identity and expression. This page includes guidance, a breakdown of laws, protections, regulations, city/town bylaws, example cases, and both web and print sources.

The guidance offered known as “best bets” includes: Gender identity guidance, MCAD, December 2016, Gender identity guidance for public accommodations, Mass. Attorney General, September 2016, and Guidance for MA public schools creating a safe and supportive school environment, Mass. Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education. This third piece of guidance really emphasizes the importance of safe spaces for queer youth. It is admirable that the Massachusetts government created an easily accessible source on this for a large audience.

MGL c.12, § 11I 1/2 Interference with right to access to reproductive and gender-affirming health care services; abusive litigation; civil actions

MGL c.46, § 13(e) Amending a birth certificate
A person who has completed medical intervention for the purpose of permanent sex reassignment may have their birth record amended. As of July 1, 2015, surgery is no longer a prerequisite to getting a new birth certificate.

MGL c.76, § 5 No person shall be excluded from or discriminated against in admission to a public school of any town, or in obtaining the advantages, privileges, and courses of study of such public school on account of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin or sexual orientation.

MGL c.127, § 32A Housing and treatment of inmates with gender identity that differs from assigned sex at birth

MGL c.127, § 39A(c) Segregated units – mental health screening; prohibitions on housing in units
The fact that a prisoner is lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex or has a gender identity or expression or sexual orientation uncommon in general population shall not be grounds for placement in restrictive housing.

MGL c.151B Discrimination
Unlawful practices (under section 4) include discrimination in employment, the insurance or bonding business, real estate loans, renting, and credit services.

MGL c.175, § 108N Disability insurance policies; discrimination based upon race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation or marital status prohibited

MGL c.272, § 92A Advertisement, book, notice or sign relative to discrimination; definition of place of public accommodation, resort or amusement Specifies that this includes restrooms in relation to gender identity.

MGL c.272, § 98 Discrimination in admission to, or treatment in, place of public accommodation

St.2011, c.199 An act relative to gender identity
Amends a number of laws to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.

St.2016, c.134 An act relative to transgender anti-discrimination
Gives transgender people the right to use restrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identities, and includes language to provide “legal action [against] any person whose assertion of a gender identity is for an improper purpose.”

St.2022, c.127 An act expanding protections for reproductive and gender-affirming care

ACLU Efforts

2011: Legislation that was ACLU-backed passed that made it illegal to discriminate against transgender people in employment, credit, education, and housing.

2016: Working as part of the Freedom For All Massachusetts coalition, “the ACLU of Massachusetts worked to pass legislation in 2016 to protect transgender people from discrimination in public places, like hotels, restaurants, public transportation, hospitals, and more. This law is particularly important for trans women of color, who are disproportionately impacted by anti-transgender discrimination and violence.”^[1]