Amid cheers and jeers, supporters and opponents react to the House passage of a transgender anti-discrimination bill.
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BOSTON -- Massachusetts representatives exited the House chamber after voting on a transgender anti-discrimination bill on Wednesday to cheers of exuberant supporters and jeers of "shame on you!"
"Today is one of my proudest moments as speaker of the House," House Speaker Robert DeLeo, D-Winthrop, said after the vote.
The House passed the bill extending anti-discrimination protection to transgender people in places of public accommodation such as restaurants, buses and public bathrooms by a vote of 116 to 36, with eight representatives not voting.
The vote capped an emotional day at the Statehouse, with hundreds of people - supporters and opponents - watching from the House gallery and on video screens set up in the State House hallways.
"We've been heard. The Legislature heard our stories, heard our pleas, heard our work," exclaimed Mason Dunn, co-chair of Freedom Massachusetts, a coalition of advocates, clergy, labor and others who pushed for the bill's passage.
Supporters of a transgender anti-discrimination bill rejoice after the bill passed the House on June 1, 2016.SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN
The Senate already passed a version of the bill, with minor differences from the House bill. Both branches are led by Democrats. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, has said he would sign the version that passed the House.
DeLeo said he hopes the Senate will pass the version that the House passed, to avoid a conference committee and get a bill on Baker's desk. "I come here as speaker to have real victories, and real victory is when someone signs a piece of legislation," DeLeo said.
Senate President Stan Rosenberg, D-Amherst, who has strongly supported the bill, said in a statement, "Today's passage of the public accommodations bill by the House puts Massachusetts one step closer to bringing equal protection under the law for transgender individuals and preventing discrimination based on gender identity for our residents. The Senate looks forward to working with the House to send a bill to the governor's desk."
After the House vote, opponents and supporters of the bill tried to drown each other out as they cheered and jeered the representatives leaving the chamber. Some got into arguments with each other.
"This is wrong. It's a violation of Bible principles," said Ray Li, of Westborough. "The Bible defines man and woman, female and male."
Nan Li, a Wayland resident who is unrelated to Ray Li but traveled to the State House with the same church group, said she respects other people's lifestyles, but the bill poses a threat. "If the bill that passed becomes law, there will be so many people who feel uncomfortable, unsafe," Li said. "They'll lose their privacy."
Grace Stevens, of Lexington, was among those cheering the bill's passage. "It's been a long time coming. It proves rights belong to everyone," Stevens said. "It's not a bathroom bill. It's a civil rights bill.
"People get to choose whether they go down the path of fear or love," Stevens added. "The House has chosen the path of love."
Tyler Dyler, of Arlington, who is transgender, said he has been harassed in the past, and now he feels happy and excited that he will be able "to be safe in the bathroom."
The House bill was sponsored by State Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, and State Rep. Denise Provost, D-Somerville.
"We, this Legislature, did not give trans people, the trans community their rights," Rushing told a group of transgender activists and supporters after the vote. "You had your rights like we all have our rights because they're human rights, and we are human beings."
Attorney General Maura Healey, a strong supporter of the bill, said in a statement, "We have a proud history in Massachusetts of paving the way on issues of civil rights and equality. Nearly 20 other states have already extended these protections to transgender people. It's time we do the same. I look forward to having a law on the books that makes clear that everyone is welcome in Massachusetts."