Transgender civil rights bill OK’d

November 17, 2011|By Mark Arsenault, Globe Staff

Senate president Therese Murray said some legislators had issues with… (YOON S. BYUN/GLOBE STAFF )

After six years of lobbying on Beacon Hill, the state’s transgender community today won civil rights protections that have long been extended to other minority groups.

The bill, now on its way to the governor’s desk, will forbid discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment and credit. It will also add gender identification to the state’s hate crimes law.

Final passage of that bill came amid a rush of lawmaking on the last day before the House and Senate depart on winter recess until next year.

The legislature today also approved a new Congressional district map that eliminates one of the state’s 10 House districts and creates a new seat representing Cape Cod, the South Coast, and the coastal sections of Plymouth County. The redistricting bill expands the state’s only district with a majority of minority residents. That district is now represented by Michael E. Capuano of Somerville and will be extended from Somerville and Everett, through Boston, to minority precincts in Milton and Randolph.

“Voters of color and underrepresented communities now have a larger voice in the political process,” Malia Lazu, project director for the Drawing Democracy Project, said in a statement reacting to the vote. The House and Senate “took a major step forward down the road of reform.”

The Congressional map approved today included a last-minute change that swapped the town of Easton — which now will go into Representative Barney Frank’s district — with Walpole, which will become part of Representative Stephen Lynch’s South Boston-based district.

Republicans had offered alternative redistricting plans, but were rebuffed. State Sen. Robert L. Hedlund, a Weymouth Republican, argued the final map that was approved “was about protecting incumbent congressmen at the expense of the municipalities.”

Though much of the attention today focused on the legislature’s last-minute rush to finish redistricting and major casino legislation, it was the less-noted transgender bill that inspired some of the strongest passions on Beacon Hill.

The bill won final approval in the House on 93-60 vote, while the Senate passed the measure in a voice vote. Governor Deval Patrick has said he will sign the bill into law, making Massachusetts the 16th state to pass transgender civil rights.

Advocates say that about 33,000 people identify as transgender in this state.

“The transgender community has been waiting a long time,” said Arline Isaacson,co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, which pushed for the bill. “The fact that you won’t lose your job because you’re transgender is huge.” She credited House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo with pushing the bill to passage. “He came through; it took some brass,” she said.