I had the opportunity to speak to a gathering of about 75 pastors this week on the issue of religious liberty.  Specifically, they wanted to know about the bathroom bill, and what it means for their churches and communities.  I explained the threat that it poses to “houses of worship,” as defined by the MA Attorney General and encouraged them to join the repeal campaign.  Based on the questions they asked me, I want to make three things clear:

1. The recent federal court victory against the Obama administration’s school bathroom mandate is a welcome development, BUT it does NOT impact the STATE public accommodations law here in MA.  The legal ruling only prevents the federal government from imposing this transgender policy on public schools- for now.  In MA, our state government has enacted similar laws itself, so halting the federal mandate doesn’t really change things.  It is up to us to defend ourselves against this state transgender bathroom and locker room law through the repeal process at Keep MA Safe.

2. Attorney General Maura Healey, who infamously told opponents of this radical law to “just hold it,” released regulations yesterday on how this bill will be applied.  In this document, the AG instructs us that when we see a man entering a women’s bathroom or locker room, we are to “presume that [the] individual is using the correct facility,” regardless of their appearance.  In fact, the most we’re allowed to do is ask that man, discretely and out of earshot of others, “Are you using the appropriate facility?” If they say yes, again, we must “presume” that they are simply using the “sex-segregated space [that] is most consistent with their gender identity.”  And how, exactly, is gender identity defined?    According to the AG’s interpretation of the law, gender identity is “a person’s internal sense of their own gender.” How in the world are we supposed to determine that?

3. One of the pastors at this week’s gathering asked me to make a brief video explaining all of this so he can send it to his fellow pastors and show it to his church, because he is passionate about spreading the word to the faithful.  So we are sending you this 5 minute video below suitable for showing to your church during announcements.  At a minimum, please ask you pastor to watch it themselves, even if they can’t show it to the whole congregation, so that they understand what is at stake, and what we can do to fix it.

So, if you haven’t already, PLEASE go to www.keepmasafe.org and sign up to collect signatures.  We only have three weeks left to get to our goal of 50-60,000 raw signatures.  We need 32,375 certified signatures by September 22nd to get on the ballot so we can vote to repeal this law.  You can also email us at info@keepmasafe.org and we will send you or your church a package with everything you need to collect signatures after your service.  This is one of the most efficient ways to get signatures, only takes a few minutes, and is a faithful stewarding of our civic responsibilities as citizens of both this Commonwealth and the Kingdom.

For our families,