More Good News

In Maryland, the House of Delegates passed the gender identity/expression non-discrimination bill and now it is on the way to the governor.

Maryland transgender rights bill receives final approval
Washington Blade   
By Michael K. Lavers
March 27, 2014

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – A bill that would ban discrimination against transgender Marylanders on Thursday received final approval in the Maryland House of Delegates.

The 82-57 vote on Senate Bill 212 – the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014 – took place after lawmakers debated the measure that state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) introduced in January for more than two hours.

This sounds familiar, Connecticut Republicans tried to pass a similar amendment that increased the criminal penalty when committing a crime while crossdress,

State Del. Anthony O’Donnell (R-St. Mary’s and Calvert Counties) introduced a proposed amendment to SB 212 that sought to ban anyone from asserting their gender identity and expression to “enter a place of public accommodation for the purpose of committing an illegal activity.” House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore and Harford Counties) put forth a proposal that would have exempted bathrooms from the measure

The Republicans tried to strip “public accommodations” from the bill and also limit access to “distinctly private and personal” places and “private facilities.” The debate over the bill sounded just like the debate we had here in Connecticut, with a lot of imaginary “what ifs.”

In the end the bill passed without any amendments and the governor is expected to sign it into law. This is the first bill to pass after Massachusetts passed their bill without public accommodations in 2012, Maryland showed that we can overcome the setback in Massachusetts.