On November 23, 2011, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the “Gender Identity Bill.” This makes Massachusetts the 16th state – along with California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia – to provide some level of protection to employees based on gender identity and/or expression.

According to some sources, an estimated 33,000 Massachusetts residents identify themselves as transgender. Moreover, a 2011 report from the Gay & Lesbian Task Force found that 76% of those transgender individuals have felt harassed on the job because of their gender identity.