UPDATED: Massachusetts House of Representatives to vote on bill banning hair discrimination

UPDATE: The bill aimed at banning race-based discrimination targeting hair texture and hairstyles was unanimously approved Thursday by the Massachusetts House.

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The Massachusetts House of Representatives will soon vote on legislation that would ban employers from hair discrimination and bar schools from adding a policy that would ban specific hairstyles.

The discrimination would protect those individuals with natural hairstyles like twists, braids, or locks and when it comes to schools they will not have the ability to “impair or prohibit” natural hairstyles.

This vote comes right after President Biden voiced his support of the federal CROWN Act that prohibits discrimination based on a person’s hair texture or hairstyle if that style or texture is commonly associated with a particular race or national origin.

If successfully passed, the Bay State would be the 15th state to embrace the so-called CROWN Act.