Around New England

Jeff Jacoby Offers Three Reasons To Vote No on Question 3 in The Boston Globe

November 4, 2018

The Boston Globe‘s lone conservative columnist says that the 2016 state statute that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public accommodations — including public bathrooms, locker rooms, and beauty salons — ought to be repealed.

Jeff Jacoby argues that the law fails on freedom-of-association grounds and also jeopardizes the dignity and privacy of women and girls in intimate spaces.

He cites the Milton beauty spa case, first reported by New Boston Post, in which a biological male who identifies as a woman asked for a “full Brazilian” waxing from a female-oriented beauty parlor uncomfortable with the request, and later filed a complaint (later withdrawn) with the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office.

“The 2016 law rides roughshod over the discomfort, reserve, and modesty of women and girls at the presence of male bodies in a place meant for females only,” Jacoby writes.

Question 3, which asks voters whether they want to keep (by voting Yes) or end (by voting No) the gender-identity-in-public-accommodations law, is on the Massachusetts ballot Tuesday, November 6.