Was Massachusetts A Model For Other States?

Would the strategy that was used in Massachusetts work in other parts of the country?

Historic Win for Massachusetts Transgender Protections Law Creates Pathway for Similar Fights Elsewhere
JURIST
By Mason Dunn Edited by: Brianna Bell
November 14, 2018

This past Election Day, voters in Massachusetts made history by winning a popular vote on transgender rights at the statewide ballot box for the first time. At a time when so many transgender people are being attacked by the Trump administration and violence against transgender people remains an epidemic in America (with the highest rates of violence targeting transgender women of color), this victory sends a resounding message that the transgender community is worthy of being treated with dignity and respect, and should have equal protections codified under the law.
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In 2015, Freedom for All Massachusetts formed in order to finish our work, and ensure protections in places of public accommodation. We recruited a groundbreaking coalition of supporters and allies, including hundreds of businesses, faith leaders, labor unions representing hundreds of thousands of families, and the state’s major experts working on women’s safety, including the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs, and the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. These institutions and experts testified to the well known fact that there was no correlation between protecting transgender people and an increase in public safety incidents. The legislation was signed by Republican Governor Charlie Baker and passed by a bipartisan supermajority of lawmakers in both chambers. Shortly after these protections went into effect, opponents of the law collected the small number of signatures — less than 33,000, or less than one percent of the state population — needed to force it onto the November 2018 ballot. A “yes” vote on question 3 would uphold the current law, while a “no” vote repealed that provision of the public accommodations law.

The No on 3 campaign lacked substantive infrastructure or paid staff, but the messages they attempted to send to the electorate were predicated on misinformation and lies that have no legs to stand on from a legal perspective. While our campaign for Yes on 3 aired informative ads from a diverse array of messengers expressing support for the transgender nondiscrimination law and introducing voters to real people who would be affected by the outcome, the No side’s primary ad featured actors depicting a shadowy and unrealistic hypothetical man spying on a woman in a locker room. In media interviews and debates surrounding the ballot question, the “No” side pointed to a handful of seemingly random instances across the country to demonstrate the supposed harms of the law. However, it was telling that they could not find a single actual person to speak publicly as a surrogate in their ad. That being said, it’s easy to dispel, practically and legally, any notion that ensuring basic protections for transgender people empowers criminals to enjoy increased access to women’s spaces to commit crimes.
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Yes on 3 ran a campaign highlighting transgender voices, showcasing a groundbreaking coalition of more than 1,500 stakeholders and influencers across the state in support of these protections, and debunking any misunderstanding that these protections could harm safety. From a legal perspective, such claims fall to shreds; but as the Massachusetts electorate has proven, it doesn’t take a lawyer to see that these lies are nonsensical and simply false. Our campaign was about treating all people with dignity and respect, including transgender people. Will discrimination against transgender people in Massachusetts end simply because a law was passed and upheld? Of course not. But the power of these protections, passed by a supermajority of legislators and subsequently upheld by 68% of voters, sends a strong message to the transgender community, here and across the country. I hope that other states take Massachusetts’ lead, until a day where all transgender people can enjoy full legal equality, as well as lived equality, no matter what state they call home.

I think that Massachusetts was a unique case. They had several factors in their favor.

First Massachusetts is a very liberal state.

Second, the law was on the books for three years and there were no incidents with the law.

Third, their Republican governor was behind the bill along with the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence and many of the mayors in the state supported the bill.

Lastly, Massachusetts has a low threshold on getting questions on the ballot and a small minority were about to get the ballot referendum.

So I think that Massachusetts wasn’t a fluke it was the right place for it to pass and I think that the strategy would be mainly ineffective in conservative states.