Massachusetts Senate Passes Transgender Rights Bill By Wide Margin

The Massachusetts state Senate on Thursday passed a transgender rights bill that provides non-discrimination protections for trans people in the area of public accommodations, the exact type of non-discrimination protections other states have been pointedly denying to their trans citizens.

Senate Bill 735 passed by a wide margin of 33 to 4 and is expected to pass the House.

Mass. Senate passes transgender rights bill 33-4.

— State House News (@statehousenews) May 12, 2016

“In Massachusetts we are civil rights pioneers by nature” – Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz in opening comments on transgender rights bill.

— State House News (@statehousenews) May 12, 2016

BuzzFeed reports:

Democrats argued the legislation advanced basic civil rights for transgender people, blocking several amendments from Republicans that would have weakened the legislation.

“It is our responsibility to advance these provisions when there is clearly evidence that transgender people can and are being discriminated against,” Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, a Democrat, told BuzzFeed News before the vote.

The bill appears poised to pass the House and reach the governor’s desk.

House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo told reporters last week that he likes the bill as passed by a joint judiciary committee, suggesting he is prepared to bring the legislation to a floor vote.

While Republican Governor Charlie Baker had initially signaled ambivalence on the bill (which led to him being booed off stage at an LGBT event), he appears more favorably disposed to the bill at present:

Lizzy Guyton, a spokesman for Baker, told BuzzFeed News in a statement that the governor “will carefully review a bill should the legislature act,” adding that he “believes no one should be discriminated against based on gender identity.” The governor also supports existing state laws banning transgender discrimination in housing and employment, Guyton added.

[Top photo via Dominic Holden / Twitter]

The post Massachusetts Senate Passes Transgender Rights Bill By Wide Margin appeared first on Towleroad.

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NC Lt. Gov. Dan Forest: Obama Administration Using Extortion to Push ‘Radical Leftist Agenda’ – WATCH

North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest accused the Obama administration of using the legal battle over HB 2 as a political football to push its “radical leftist agenda.”

Speaking with The Daily Signal, Forest called the DOJ’s countersuit against North Carolina, a suit that could result in the loss of $2 billion in federal funds for the state, “extortion.” Forest also says the federal government is holding the children of North Carolina hostage.

As for U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s comparing HB 2 to Jim Crow laws and other forms of state-sponsored discrimination, Forest says,

“To use Jim Crow laws is pretty shameful…the color of somebody’s skin, the pigment of their skin has absolutely nothing to do, zero to do with what bathroom somebody goes into, what locker room or shower they use, what lunch counter they sit at, it has nothing to do with that. That’s why we got rid of those nefarious laws called Jim Crow laws because they were amazingly discriminatory. However, somebody’s biological sex has everything to do with which bathroom you use.”

ICYMI: Loretta Lynch Announces Federal Lawsuit Against NC, Tells Trans Americans ‘We See You’ – WATCH 

Forest went on to say that HB 2 “has absolutely nothing to do with Jim Crow laws. She knows that. But they’re pushing the envelope here to, again, push their agenda so that they can redefine what the term sex means in the Civil Rights Act.”

As for what Forest would tell transgender North Carolinians who feel discriminated against, he says, “You’re welcome here. There’s no discrimination going on in North Carolina.”

Forest also denies perpetuating the anti-trans LGBT bathroom predator myth.

Watch, below.

The post NC Lt. Gov. Dan Forest: Obama Administration Using Extortion to Push ‘Radical Leftist Agenda’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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Texas Republicans Are Chomping At The Bit To Hop On The Transphobia Train

Without the legislature in session, Texas Republicans are finding other ways to come out against transgender equality.

The post Texas Republicans Are Chomping At The Bit To Hop On The Transphobia Train appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/05/12/3777656/texas-transphobia/

Massachusetts State Senate Approves Measure Extending Crucial Protections to Transgender Community

Today, HRC hailed the Massachusetts State Senate’s vote extending commonsense non-discrimination protections to the state’s transgender residents and visitors. While Massachusetts state law already prohibits anti-transgender discrimination in housing and employment, the new legislation will extend the same crucial protections to public accommodations.

Following expected approval by the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the bill will head to the desk of Republican Governor Charlie Baker who has not indicated whether he will sign the bill. In recent weeks Baker has made positive statements in support non-discrimination laws for the transgender community.

“We commend the Massachusetts Senate under the leadership of Senate President Stan Rosenberg for choosing to lead by embracing acceptance, respect and dignity for all at this pivotal moment for transgender equality in America,” said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. “While North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has legislated hate by signing the vile HB2 into law, governors from Georgia and South Dakota have joined the growing list of fair-minded Republicans standing up for fairness and equality. Poll after poll shows that the majority of Americans– on both sides of the aisle– know that discriminating against the LGBT community is wholly unacceptable.”  

“We look forward to continued equality momentum in Massachusetts with a positive vote in the House, and we urge Governor Baker to sign this vitally important measure into law when it reaches to his desk,” Winterhof said.

If  Baker signs the bill, Massachusetts will join 18 other states and more than 100 cities that have explicit non-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, housing and employment.
The bill has overwhelming support throughout the state and the region. Several New England  professional sports teams and Massachusetts education groups have endorsed it, along with U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, Attorney General Maura Healey, and the Boston Globe’s editorial board.

HRC is a proud member of the Freedom Massachusetts campaign, mobilizing our in-state members, as well as donating staff and other resources to the effort over the last year.

Above: MA Senate President and HRC’s Marty Rouse

www.hrc.org/blog/massachusetts-state-senate-approves-measure-extending-crucial-protections-t?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

LGBTQ Progress in the Philippines

In May of 2015, HRC was proud to partner with GenderProud founder Geena Rocero and the Association of Transgender People of the Philippines for a three-city tour to empower local transgender activists to tell their own authentic stories, and become advocates for non-discrimination.

Rocero, a longtime HRC supporter and transgender advocate, saw her dream come to fruition as she returned to her native country to build awareness and destigmatize the lives of transgender people in the Philippines.

“All that work that we’re all doing is for the trans youth,” Rocero said in a video with HRC. “Hoping that their lives will be better than ours, so they can thrive more.”

The tour kicked off with an unprecedented gathering of more than 160 transgender activists and allies who came together for a few days of inspiration, connecting and skill building. The participants were also offered media and storytelling trainings so they are better equipped to share their stories with policymakers, the media and the public.

Rocero and fellow advocates are now seeing the tides slowly shift – earlier this week the Philippines elected Geraldine Roman, a transgender woman and member of the Liberal Party, as the representative for Bataan Second Legislative District. She is the Philippines’ first transgender member of Congress.

“Philippines just elected its FIRST Transgender woman in Congress,” Rocero shared on Facebook. “Huge Congrats Geraldine Roman! So PROUD!”

While the Philippines has one of the highest rates of acceptance of LGBTQ people in Asia, transgender people are often stigmatized. LGBTQ activists are working in this overwhelmingly Catholic country to pass national level legislation to protect or advance the rights of LGBTQ people. Unfortunately, a non-discrimination bill that would protect LGBTQ people has languished in Congress for years.

www.hrc.org/blog/lgbtq-progress-in-the-philippines?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

TAKE THE PLEDGE: #StandWithTarget on June 1 as LGBT Pride Month Begins

www.glaad.org/blog/take-pledge-standwithtarget-june-1-lgbt-pride-month-begins

Samantha Bee Eviscerates 'Potty Prefect' Pat McCrory (Video)

The feminist funny lady launched a Full Frontal assault on North Carolina’s new law that bars trans people from using the public bathrooms that match their gender identity. 

www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/5/12/samantha-bee-eviscerates-potty-prefect-pat-mccrory-video

Why Is North Carolina Governor McCrory Forcing Male Reporters to Use Ladies Room? (Video)

www.advocate.com/media/2016/5/12/why-north-carolina-governor-mccrory-forcing-male-reporters-use-ladies-room-video

Vogue Mini-Doc Takes You Inside New York’s Contemporary Ballroom Scene

It’s been 25 years since Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingston’s award-winning 1991 documentary about New York’s drag ball culture, made stars of talents like Willie Ninja and legends of personalities like Dorian Corey and Venus Xtravaganza.

The city’s ball scene is still going strong, thanks to a whole new generation of club kids and performers inspired by the cult classic — and in some instances in spite of it — so we’re long overdue for an update.

Now Thump — Vice Media’s channel devoted to electronic music and club culture — has teamed up with Axe for Night Visions, a look at the contemporary ball scene and its stars.

While Paris Is Burning spotlighted events in Harlem ballrooms, the first episode of this three-part mini doc brings the action downtown. We get a peek at promoter Jack Mizrahi’s Vogue Knights at XL Nightclub — inside Manhattan’s infamous Out Hotel — a kind of weekly workshop for vogue performances that attracted stars like Rihanna and Janelle Monae in its original location at the now-shuttered 39th Street club Esquelita. Meanwhile, the children on the runway at Symba McQueen’s Red Ball basically redefine the word “fierce.”

Watch below:

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