Free Republic

The state Senate followed the House this morning in passing a transgender civil rights bill. Unlike the House, where the bill drew vocal opposition, the Senate passed the bill by voice vote with only one speaker, the sponsor. Governor Deval Patrick said Tuesday that he would sign it. “Sure,” Patrick told reporters. “I think we have hate crimes on the books today. They, in the case of transgender people, don’t go far enough.” The bill would protect transgender people in housing, credit, and the workplace, and would include transgender people under hate crimes protections. Opponents have called the bill an...

A San Francisco County judge, who yesterday struck down California’s ban on homosexual marriage, today ruled on the same basis that separate restrooms for men and women are unconstitutional. Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer likened the division of washrooms to laws requiring racial segregation in schools, and said there appears to be “no rational purpose for denying women access to men’s facilities and vice versa.” “The state’s protracted denial of equal protection cannot be justified simply because such constitutional violation has become traditional,” Judge Kramer wrote. “The court finds that the legal principle of lavatorio proportio [potty parity] offers inadequate...