When last we checked on Massachusetts, it seemed as if progress were...er...progressing apace. The Senate had passed their version of the Transgender Public Accommodation bill 33-4, the House had passed their version 116-36 and Governor Charlie Baker had said he would sign the House version.

Now somehow we have slowed to whatever is less than a snail's pace. I'd suggest a glacial pace...but you know how vanishing those are becoming.

And the current legislative session is fast approaching conclusion.

The bill, whose virtues have been argued by this page several times, is meant to close a loophole in the 2011 Transgender Equal Rights Act, which protected against gender identity discrimination in matters of housing, employment, public education, and credit but failed to guarantee equal access in matters of public accommodation. So a restaurant could not deny you a job based on your gender identity, but it could refuse to serve you or let you use the bathroom.

So what's the problem. Actually there seem to be two of them.

(1) The House chose not to adopt the emergency preamble to the Senate bill. SO the Senate bill would be effective immediately when signed by the governor, whereas the House bill would not become law until January 2017.

(2) The House bill contains language calling for the attorney general to issue "regulations or guidance" regarding legal action against someone asserting gender identity "for improper purpose."

Delaying the implementation of a civil rights bill seems a bit dubious and totally unnecessary.

And the phrase “improper purpose,” which is also part of the 2011 law, seems intended to quell unfounded fears that someone might put on a wig and dress so as to gain access to a women’s bathroom or locker room for the purposes of spying, harassment, assault, or other predatory behavior.

The conference committee that is now trying to hammer out a compromise should do so post-haste, and the Legislature should make sure the bill gets to Governor Baker’s desk ASAP. As we’ve seen all too often in Washington, a legislative body that insists on ideological purity is one that rarely gets anything done.

--Boston Globe