Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield, this week voted against a bill aimed at banning discrimination against transgender people in public accommodations, citing difficulties passing three amendments he said made the hot-topic legislation more palatable.
The bill, which passed overwhelmingly in the Senate by a 33-4 vote Thursday, brings transgender people one step closer to being afforded the right to use bathrooms and changing areas that correspond with their gender identities.
This bill is an expansion of a 2011 state law that bars discrimination against transgender people in housing and the workplace.
Humason, whose district includes Easthampton and Southampton, said Friday that because the bill is predicated on tolerance, people needed to be respectful of his minority view.
Tolerance, he added, is a two-way street.
“We were asked to be tolerant of transgender individuals,” Humason said. “While those same proponents are not at all accepting or tolerant of people who have a different opinion.”
He said debate on the Senate floor was always respectful — a point deserving of credit on both sides of the aisle — but other discourse directed at him, like that on social media Friday, took a spiteful tone.
“I like to keep my conversation civil,” he said. “It’s certainly not easy when people are calling you a bigot, a hater and intolerant.”
All four of the bill’s opponents are Republicans. Humason said the Republican caucus — himself and the four other Republican members in the Senate — proposed three amendments that, if they had not failed, would have made the bill more acceptable.
“I think it would have made the bill a better bill that was much more palatable to more people,” said Humason.
One of the amendments, he said, would have delayed the bill’s implementation to allow citizens to better understand its contents. The bill includes an emergency preamble, which means it would take effect immediately if signed into law.
Another failed amendment included additional ramifications for anyone who “improperly” used the bill to gain access to bathrooms and private areas, and another would have limited the expansion of rights to just bathrooms.
The bill, which heads to the House, also applies to locker rooms, showers and changing areas.
Humason noted that his objection to the bill also stems from his perspective that it takes away from one group and gives to another.
“By expanding a right on one side, we actually impacted a right on the other side,” he said.
But Humason’s opposition struck a chord with some Easthampton officials, as it comes about three weeks after the City Council unanimously voted to adopt a resolution in support of the same bill.
The resolution was written by at-large Councilor Tamara Smith and District 2 Councilor Jennifer Hayes.
“I think it shows a level of intolerance of trans individuals,” Hayes said Friday. “It’s easy to do the right thing. This is a civil rights issue.”
The council sent notice of the successful resolution to Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Gov. Charlie Baker and the city’s elected state lawmakers: Rep. John Scibak and Humason.
Humason had not replied as of Friday evening, Hayes said. “I think it’s very obvious that this was something that Easthampton supports because there were a lot of members of the public who were (at the City Council meeting) for the resolution, even though it was non-binding,” she added.
Information reported by the AP was used in this story. Amanda Drane can be reached at adrane@gazettenet.com.