The US state of Massachusetts has signed transgender rights into law, offering people the right to use the bathroom and shower facilities of their self-designed gender. The new law comes into effect on October 1. Opponents have pointed out that the new law, in seeking to end discrimination, fails to protect women and children and violates rights to privacy. “What we have today is the sacrifice of common sense and the abdication of responsibility by both houses of the legislature and now the governor,” said the Massachusetts Family Institute in a statement.