The 18 states where gender identity is legally protected, mapped
No, Massachusetts is not paving the way on this issue.
After a bill that protects transgender people from discrimination in public accommodations was passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives on Wednesday, Attorney General Maura Healey lauded the state as a leader.
“We have a proud history in Massachusetts of paving the way on issues of civil rights and equality,” she said in a statement.
Yet in the case of public accommodations protections for gender identity, Massachusetts is firmly following other states’ roads.
Massachusetts would become the 19th state with such protections should the bill become law, according to surveys of the country’s public accommodations laws.
In the map above, created by the Movement Advancement Project, a group that researches and promotes equality for LGBT community, states with laws protecting gender identity in public accommodations are highlighted in dark green.
As of now, Massachusetts stands along with New Hampshire and Wisconsin in light green, which means they have laws protecting sexual identity in public accommodations, but not gender identity.
Three states in the South—Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina—have yellow caution signs on the map. That signifies that their state legislatures passed laws banning localities from protecting gender identity in public accommodations.
The state Senate passed a similar transgender protection bill, and Senate President Stan Rosenberg has said he is open to the House version of the bill. Gov. Charlie Baker said on Tuesday that he supports the House version of the bill and would sign it into law.
Should that happen, Massachusetts would move into the dark green on the map. That would make it join its neighboring crowd of states, but it certainly wouldn’t be leading the way.
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