Around New England

Elizabeth Warren Calls Yes Vote on Gender-Identity Law ‘No on Hate’

October 22, 2018

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren equated a ballot question vote seeking to repeal a state statute that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public accommodations with hate.

“Yes on 3 is No on hate,” Warren said during a campaign stop Monday, according to MassLive.com.

Question 3 asks voters whether they want to continue or end the law, which applies to public accommodations such as restaurants, bars, beauty parlors, public bathrooms, and locker rooms. A Yes vote continues it; a No vote repeals it.

Supporters of the law says it provides vulnerable transgender people with needed legal protections. Opponents say it puts women and girls at risk because it allows biological males who say they identify was women to get access to bathrooms and locker rooms meant for females. Some opponents also argue that transgenderism is a mental disorder and should not be encouraged by the law.

Warren spoke about Question 3 during an appearance in Springfield where she also blasted Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services, which is trying to define biological sex as male or female under federal civil rights law. Such a definition might remove efforts by the Obama administration to make transgender people a protected class under federal law.