{"id":130545,"date":"2018-09-10T08:05:20","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T12:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?p=130545"},"modified":"2021-11-30T14:30:43","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T19:30:43","slug":"the-ballot-question","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2018\/the-ballot-question\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballot Question"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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September 10, 2018<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\tTwitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\tFacebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On Election Day, Massachusetts voters will face the first-ever statewide popular vote on protections for transgender people from discrimination. The referendum would repeal our state law that protects transgender people from discrimination in public places, including restaurants, stores, and doctors\u2019 offices. A \u201cyes\u201d vote on Question 3 keeps the current law as it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

Question #3<\/h1>\n

Do you approve of a law summarized below, which was approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate on July 7, 2016?<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

This law adds gender identity to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in places of public accommodation, resort, or amusement. Such grounds also include race, color, religious creed, national origin, sex, disability, and ancestry. A \u201cplace of public accommodation, resort or amusement\u201d is defined in existing law as any place that is open to and accepts or solicits the patronage of the general public, such as hotels, stores, restaurants, theaters, sports facilities, and hospitals. \u201cGender identity\u201d is defined as a person\u2019s sincerely held gender-related identity, appearance, or behavior, whether or not it is different from that traditionally associated with the person\u2019s physiology or assigned sex at birth.<\/p>\n

A YES VOTE\u00a0<\/strong>would keep in place the current law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in places of public accommodation.<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

A NO VOTE\u00a0<\/strong>would repeal this provision of the public accommodation law.<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

This law prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in a person\u2019s admission to or treatment in any place of public accommodation. The law requires any such place that has separate areas for males and females (such as restrooms) to allow access to and full use of those areas consistent with a person\u2019s gender identity. The law also prohibits the owner or manager of a place of public accommodation from using advertising or signage that discriminates on the basis of gender identity.<\/p>\n

This law directs the state Commission Against Discrimination to adopt rules or policies and make recommendations to carry out this law. The law also directs the state Attorney General to issue regulations or guidance on referring for legal action any person who asserts gender identity for an improper purpose.<\/p>\n

The provisions of this law governing access to places of public accommodation are effective as of October 1, 2016. The remaining provisions are effective as of July 8, 2016.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nLearn more about the Transgender Rights Initiative<\/a>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you familiar with the November 2018 ballot questions? Take a look at how Question 3 on Transgender Rights is worded and be ready for the polls this fall. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14799,"featured_media":103181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2433,2043,2430,1905,2331,2398],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3517,3543],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14799"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130545"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204709,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/130545\/revisions\/204709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130545"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=130545"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=130545"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=130545"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=130545"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=130545"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=130545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}