AS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT weighs changes to legal definitions around sex and gender, a vote to uphold a Massachusetts law aimed at protecting transgender people from discrimination would send a message to the nation, actress Laverne Cox told a group of educators, transgender students, and parents Wednesday.
Cox, a transgender activist and actress known for her role in the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” urged Massachusetts voters to “choose love today, and not fear” and vote yes on Question 3 on November’s ballot.
“Massachusetts has an opportunity to send a message to this administration, has an opportunity to send a message to the rest of the country that this is not who we are as Americans, that this is not who we are as human beings, that we respect the humanity of everyone,” she said….
Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy said the law helps transgender students feel safe, accepted and included at schools.
“If a student feels silenced and disenfranchised, we all lose,” she said.
Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang, and Beth Kontos, president of the American Federation of Teachers Massachusetts, also spoke at the event, held at the Boston Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth Community Center. Tang, who said she is the first openly queer head of the BTU, said the vote will have “national implications.”