The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently issued directives pertaining to the rights of the state’s transgender public school students, including the right to use bathrooms, or play on teams, that are appropriate to the gender with which they identify rather than the gender to which society assigns them.
The guidelines follow the passing of the state’s Transgender Equal Rights Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick last summer, and which makes discrimination in employment, housing, education, and lending illegal. The law also designates attacks targeting people for being transgender as hate crimes.
But while many advocates of LGBTQ equality are pleased with the state’s efforts on behalf of its transgender students, there is also concern that the law does not yet do enough.
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