While the Trump administration spends 2026 tearing down federal diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, the Massachusetts legislature is building a new one sized for exactly one religion. Senate Bill S.2134, “An Act promoting the civil rights and inclusion of American Muslims in the commonwealth,” would create a permanent 11-member commission whose duties include identifying and recommending Muslims for government appointments.

The bill has cleared its initial committees and now sits in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. I grew up in Boston, I still bleed Patriots red, and I have spent 30 years managing money as a fiduciary. Fiduciaries learn early that you do not build a system that quietly routes opportunity toward one class of people over another, however good the intentions behind it. Beacon Hill just proposed doing that with public office, and it picked religion as the sorting category.