FROM OUR OCT. PRINTED EDITION
by Chanel Prunier
The Boston Broadside has run several articles about the Massachusetts Bathroom and Locker Room Law, which took effect in 2016, but when we started our effort to put it on the ballot this fall, we never imagined how far the radical left would take its application.
As many people know, the bill added “gender identity” to the state ban on discrimination in public accommodations like bathrooms and locker rooms. Gender identity is defined in Massachusetts law as “a gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s physiology or assigned sex at birth.” In other words, the law relegates a person’s sex for purposes of bathrooms, dressing rooms, and locker rooms to their state-of-mind, rather than biology. It’s impossible to tell who is sincere and who is a violent predator looking to exploit the law, so women are being silenced rather than speaking up when someone does something inappropriate.
The Legislature had an opportunity to amend the law to protect all citizens from violent criminals and sexual predators by making an exemption for registered sex offenders, but amendments to do so were voted on and failed, an explicit rejection of public safety. Now, women, children and vulnerable people are at risk. And if a person speaks up about a man making her uncomfortable, the penalties are severe, with fines of up to $50,000 and a year in jail.
This law forces women being made uncomfortable by men in private spaces to be silent or face fines and jail time, which is unacceptable. We’ll be forced to teach our little girls that if a man makes you uncomfortable in a private place, you cannot say anything, creating terrible situations down the line. The No on Three repeal effort believes no woman should ever be told to be silent and just accept it when a man is making her uncomfortable in a shower or restroom. She has rights too.
Our campaign is based around this premise, but then the law was used for a previously unthinkable purpose. A discrimination complaint was brought under the law by a man who wanted his you-know-what waxed by a place that only serves women. Basically, he said, “you will touch my privates, or I will sue you.”
Recently, through a public records request, one of the organizations involved in our repeal effort un-earthed a complaint that a man who “identifies as woman” filed against a beauty salon in Milton under the new law.
Very simply, he insisted the salon provide him with a bikini wax, even though he has fully-intact male anatomy, and they do not service men. In his mind, he’s a woman, so he is demanding they treat him as a woman. When they declined, he filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office.
No women should be forced to touch a man’s penis if she doesn’t want to. And women who work in the cosmetology field (or any other) should not be forced to choose between performing services on men and losing their livelihood. This wasn’t what they signed up for when they chose this career. Frankly, there are a lot of perverts out there who will start going to beauty shops because they want to make women touch them, and enjoy making the women uncomfortable when they do so. These women will either face lawsuits and be labeled bigots by outfits like the Boston Globe, or be forced to give up their livelihood.
The individual who filed the complaint is essentially saying: “touch me, whether you like it or not. This new law says you cannot say no.”
Strangely enough, he outlines in his complaint that he was being waxed before by a similar salon in Braintree, but wanted the MA Commission on Civil Rights to force these women to service him instead. It’s not about receiving the service, it’s about making them acquiesce and agree with his conception of himself, and comply with his wishes, whether they feel uncomfortable or not. Their beliefs do not matter.
Want to help stop this law? You can do three things:
- Vote No on Three this November 6.
- Share our videos on Facebook and through social media: www.Facebook.com/KeepMASafe
- Donate to the cause so we can spread the word about this injustice, by visiting
www.KeepMASafe.org ♦
A good article. I’m voting no as this bill is too extreme.