Brian Snyder / Reuters
There is no link between giving transgender people access to public bathrooms and the crimes that occur there, a new academic study has found. Researchers at the Williams Institute, a think tank focused on gender identity at the UCLA School of Law, found no increase in crime and no difference between Massachusetts cities that had adopted transgender policies and those that had not. Activists who want to undo Massachusetts’ state transgender law through a ballot question in November have focused their campaign message on bathroom safety concerns—but their message appears to be baseless, according to the study. A spokesman for the Freedom for All Massachusetts campaign, which is working to preserve the law, said: “It really takes the wind out of the sails of our opponents who have been trying to paint this false picture.”