What Were They Thinking?

Oh, about themselves not about us. You know marriage is everything; our human rights take second fiddle.

Do you remember back in October in Massachusetts governor’s race when Charlie Baker was running for governor? For many the fact that he was in favor of marriage equality was the deciding factor, the cry in Massachusetts was finally a Republican that backs same-sex marriage!

Many news organizations bought the fiscal conservative, social liberal campaign of governor elect Baker’s campaign. However, DeeDee Edmondson pointed in an editorial on MassLive that Baler’s running mate Karyn Polito anti-LGBT views,

All this is in contrast to State Rep. Karyn Polito who led the charge for a statewide ballot question to ban gay marriage, voted against the Transgender Civil Rights bill, and supported Gov. Romney's attempt to dissolve the LGBT Youth Commission.

She, along with Massachusetts Family Institute, MassResistance, and a bevy of other conservative groups tried to stop the implementation of the Goodridge decision, which allowed gay marriage in Massachusetts, and most other initiatives that supported LGBT rights. Polito even received an award from the Massachusetts Family Institute for her work on "traditional marriage."

But hey, he’s for marriage equality!

Fast forward to last week…

Charlie Baker opposes expansion of transgender anti-discrimination rules, supports current law
MassLive.com
By Shira Schoenberg
December 16, 201

Baker, a Republican, does support an existing law that protects transgender people from discrimination in employment and housing. But he said Monday that he does not favor a bill that is expected to come before the legislature next session to add a prohibition against discrimination in places of "public accommodation."

"No one's been able to explain to me how the public accommodation piece would actually work in practice," Baker said. "Schools, hospitals, other organizations have all expressed what I believe to be legitimate concerns about that law."
[…]
On Monday, speaking to a reporter after an event at Fenway Community Health Center, which specializes in health care for gay and lesbian people, Baker said he supports the version that was signed into law, but not the expansion. "Frankly, neither does the legislature, which has never moved to act on this over the course of the past several years," Baker said.

Before the passage of the gender identity and expression non-discrimination law the courts said that we were protected in public accommodation under sex discrimination because the legislature had not said otherwise, but now they have. The legislature purposely dropped public accommodation thereby throwing out the legal precedent that the earlier court decisions were based on.

It is a whole new ballgame folks! A new governor who is opposed to adding public accommodation to the existing law and no legal precedents to allow us in restaurants, stores, parks, hospitals, and anything else that is open to the public. So keep your legs crossed as you drive through Massachusetts.