Massachussetts Approves Transgender Equal Rights Bill

As recently reported in the Huffington Post:

Massachusetts will become the 16th state to treat transgender citizens as a protected class after legislature passed the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, which not only adds protections to the state’s civil rights laws against employment, education, housing and credit discrimination, but also adds gender identity and expression to the state’s hate crimes law.

After it receives final approval votes in both branches, the bill will move forward to Governor Deval Patrick, who told The Boston Globe yesterday that he plans to sign it. “I think we have hate crimes on the books today,” he said. “They, in the case of transgender people, don’t go far enough.”

This story can be read on the Huffington Post, The Boston Globe and the Associated Press/Boston Herald.