Latest news with #MassachusettsFamilyInstitute
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
City council declares Boston a 'sanctuary city' for transgender community
City councilors voted 12-1 Wednesday to make Boston a sanctuary city for members of the transgender community. Councilor-at-Large Julia Mejia and District 9 Councilor Liz Breadon called on Boston to adopt the measure supporting transgender people, pointing to what they see as harmful rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump and the White House. 'Boston is not going to back down,' Mejia said Wednesday. 'We're seeing attacks on our trans loved ones, and here on the local level, a lot of folks are feeling helpless.' Breadon, the first openly gay woman elected to the city's council, said the country is facing "unprecedented times" where "many of our neighbors are feeling unsafe and insecure for various reasons." "This resolution addresses a particular concern that we need to elevate and raise up," she said at Wednesday's council meeting. "During the election and since, there's been an incredible escalation in anti-trans rhetoric and violence that has caused incredible stress and anxiety to our LGBTQI+ community, and especially to our trans brothers and sisters." The resolution states, in part, that Boston has "a specific commitment to protecting transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Taxpayer-funded agencies shall not comply with federal efforts to strip resources that safeguard their rights. Boston will not cooperate with federal or state policies that harm transgender and gender-diverse people and remains committed to ensuring their access to healthcare, housing, education, and employment without fear or discrimination." Mejia and Breadon acknowledged that the resolution is symbolic and nonbinding, but Mejia said the measure is a critical first step and an "opportunity to set the groundwork for the legislation." City Councilor Ed Flynn was the only member of the body to vote against the measure. 'I would like to learn more about what this resolution does,' Flynn said, according to The Boston Herald. 'I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody, but it's just something I would like to have before I vote.' Sam Whiting of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that describes itself as recognizing 'the male and female sexes as a real and enduring part of a person's created nature, not an imaginary social construct,' pushed back on the councilors' framing of the Trump administration's actions regarding transgender people. 'We think it misrepresents the executive orders, and we do support these orders and the efforts to protect children from the harms of gender ideology,' Whiting told NBC 10 Boston. Boston's declaration that it's a "sanctuary city for transgender persons" and other members of the LGBTQ community follows similar actions in the Massachusetts cities of Worcester and Cambridge. This article was originally published on
NBC News
13-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
City council declares Boston a 'sanctuary city' for transgender community
City councilors voted 12-1 Wednesday to make Boston a sanctuary city for members of the transgender community. Councilor-at-Large Julia Mejia and District 9 Councilor Liz Breadon called on Boston to adopt the measure supporting transgender people, pointing to what they see as harmful rhetoric coming from President Donald Trump and the White House. 'Boston is not going to back down,' Mejia said Wednesday. 'We're seeing attacks on our trans loved ones, and here on the local level, a lot of folks are feeling helpless.' Breadon, the first openly gay woman elected to the city's council, said the country is facing "unprecedented times" where "many of our neighbors are feeling unsafe and insecure for various reasons." "This resolution addresses a particular concern that we need to elevate and raise up," she said at Wednesday's council meeting. "During the election and since, there's been an incredible escalation in anti-trans rhetoric and violence that has caused incredible stress and anxiety to our LGBTQI+ community, and especially to our trans brothers and sisters." The resolution states, in part, that Boston has "a specific commitment to protecting transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Taxpayer-funded agencies shall not comply with federal efforts to strip resources that safeguard their rights. Boston will not cooperate with federal or state policies that harm transgender and gender-diverse people and remains committed to ensuring their access to healthcare, housing, education, and employment without fear or discrimination." Mejia and Breadon acknowledged that the resolution is symbolic and nonbinding, but Mejia said the measure is a critical first step and an "opportunity to set the groundwork for the legislation." City Councilor Ed Flynn was the only member of the body to vote against the measure. 'I would like to learn more about what this resolution does,' Flynn said, according to The Boston Herald. 'I don't want to be disrespectful to anybody, but it's just something I would like to have before I vote.' Sam Whiting of the Massachusetts Family Institute, a group that describes itself as recognizing 'the male and female sexes as a real and enduring part of a person's created nature, not an imaginary social construct,' pushed back on the councilors' framing of the Trump administration's actions regarding transgender people. 'We think it misrepresents the executive orders, and we do support these orders and the efforts to protect children from the harms of gender ideology,' Whiting told NBC 10 Boston.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ludlow gender lawsuit may move to Supreme Court
LUDLOW, Mass. (WWLP) – A lawsuit filed by Ludlow parents may now go to the nation's highest court. This law would help make all police equal The Massachusetts Family Institute has announced they're petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. The parents sued school officials and the town alleging school employees violated their rights by keeping them in the dark about their 11-year-old's gender transition. The child told teachers they identified as genderqueer and school employees began referring to the child by their new preferred name and pronouns at school. However, they continued to use the child's former name and pronouns when communicating with parents. A district court dismissed the suit back in 2022, and the first Circuit Court of Appeals this month upheld that lower court ruling. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
06-02-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Bill gives female athletes new option in school sports
Bill gives female athletes new option in school sports Supporters gathered at the State House on Wednesday promoting a bill to allow student athletes to sit out games if players of the opposite sex are competing. And while the proposal's backers were pleased with President Donald Trump's forthcoming executive order to ban transgender women from school sports, they emphasized the Massachusetts bill is not aimed at trans people. At issue is a 1979 Supreme Judicial Court ruling that allows boys to play on girls' teams if there is no equivalent boys' team for that sport, according to the Massachusetts Family Institute, a socially conservative advocacy group that hosted the briefing. Recent injuries are prompting the move, according to MFI president Michael King, including a 2023 incident when a male field hockey player knocked out the teeth of a girl on the Dighton-Rehoboth field hockey team. Boys have greater muscle mass, bone density, and cardiovascular strength, King said, leading them to have an "unfair advantage" on girls' teams. "We needed to do something. The girls — not only the player was traumatized, but the student athletes that witnessed this were traumatized," said Dighton-Rehoboth School Committee member Katie Ferreira-Aubin. The bill, sponsored by Republicans Rep. John Gaskey and Sen. Ryan Fattman, would specify that public school athletes could not be penalized for sitting out a match if their single-sex team faces an opposing team with at least one member of the opposite sex. A coach would also be able to forfeit a match in the same situation without a penalty against their school. "This is strictly an opt-out bill designed to protect the safety of female athletes and preserve the right of girls and their teams to protest unfair competitions," said MFI general counsel Sam Whiting. Players and coaches currently face the possibility of punishment at the local level but it varies from school to school, Whiting told the News Service. "Typically, if an athlete refuses to play in a game, that might result in something like a loss of playing time, maybe they'll be benched in a future game, maybe they'll lose starting status. And then as far as a coach, if a coach is doing something that a superintendent or a school committee doesn't agree with ... obviously that coach's job could be in jeopardy," Whiting said. Trump on Wednesday was set to sign an executive order to ban transgender women from competing in women's sports. While the Massachusetts bill is "not an anti-transgender bill," Whiting said, he viewed it as an opportunity for the Bay State to follow Trump's lead. "We, of course, welcome and applaud this action and hope that Congress will also take action to amend Title IX to do the same," Whiting said during the event. He added, "The American people spoke strongly in favor of protections for girls' sports when they elected President Trump in November. The tide is turning. Our Legislature should take the lead of the president and act to protect female athletes here in the commonwealth." An opponent of the bill arrived and unfolded a small protest sign at the end of the press conference, apparently prompting Ferreira-Aubin to return to the lectern. "Kids' genitals are not your business!" said the sign. "I feel the people that are opposed to this bill are saying it's an anti-trans bill. ... None of these boys are identifying as trans. They are not identifying as trans. They are male athletes. So I just want to leave you with that," Ferreira-Aubin said.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill would let athletes sit out opposite-sex games
BOSTON (WWLP) – At the state house, supporters gathered to promote a bill that would allow student-athletes the option to sit out of a game if players of the opposite sex are competing. According to the Massachusetts Family Institute, at issue is a 1979 Supreme Judicial Court ruling. The ruling allows boys to play on girls' teams if there is no equivalent boys' team for that sport. Supporters say the Massachusetts bill is not aimed at transgender people. However, advocates were happy with the president's order, banning trans individuals from sports. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
