Support Coming In For Transgender Rights in MoCo

The Montgomery County Council recently passed a bill prohibiting certain kinds of discrimination, essentially they added the words "gender identity" to the existing nondiscrimination law. The same handful of county extremists who opposed the schools' new sex education curriculum turned their attention against this new law, saying a lot of stuff about how it would allow perverted men to hang around in ladies rooms and other ridiculous things. They have failed to address the actual content of the bill, which is about discrimination, but the locker-room alarm was enough to get signatures.

Using that kind of argument, the shower-nuts were able to get enough petition signatures to allow a referendum on the bill in November. They needed 25,000 signatures and they got them. The Board of Elections looked them over and said they were okay, and so the county is moving forward with a referendum.

But not so fast. Equality Maryland and other groups got involved and started checking the signatures, and as a result some citizens filed a suit against the Board of Elections, saying they hadn't properly looked at those petitions before they certified them. They listed off at least twenty things wrong with signatures that had been approved by the county, and pretty soon it's going to go to court.

A group called Basic Rights Montgomery was organized specifically to support the new bill. In the meantime, lawyers are expensive, never mind office space and supplies and pizza and coffee for volunteers. So this is some welcome news -- from a Human Rights Campaign press release:

WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced it will contribute $20,000 to support Basic Rights Montgomery’s fight to preserve a recently passed law that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in the face of a possible ballot measure seeking to repeal the law. The announcement was made June 1 by HRC Board of Governors member Dr. Dana Beyer at Equality Maryland’s annual gala event.

"We are pleased and proud to support Basic Rights Montgomery’s important work in fighting an effort by the far right to repeal a law that protects residents of Montgomery County from discrimination," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "This law is about basic fairness and equality—it makes clear that no one should be denied the right to work, access to housing, access to public accommodations, or other rights simply because of who they are. The repeal effort is a misguided attempt to scare voters into turning back the clock on equality."

In November 2007, the Montgomery County (Maryland) Council voted unanimously to pass a law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, and taxi and cable service. The measure was signed into law by County Executive Isaiah Leggett and was set to take effect February 21, 2008, but was put on hold when signatures were submitted in support of a petition to place a repeal measure before voters on this November’s ballot. Twelve Montgomery County residents filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of signatures that were submitted, as well as the process used to certify them.

Montgomery County was set to join 13 other states, the District of Columbia, and over 100 localities that prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity. In April 2008, a group of Montgomery County residents, joined by Equality Maryland, the state’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights group, as well as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, formed Basic Rights Montgomery to preserve the new anti-discrimination law and educate the public about the protections the law would provide. The campaign to repeal the law is led by Maryland Citizens for Responsible Government, a group whose efforts have been endorsed by the Family Research Council, a national far right group. Human Rights Campaign Announces $20,000 Contribution to Basic Rights Montgomery

Money in bundles this size will help if the battle stays in the courts, that is, it will pay for lawyers and costs associated with preparing a court case. But if the issue goes to a public vote, five-digit donations won't be enough. In that case, you have to educate the public, you have to reach the voters, and besides that you'll have all the big-bucks Family Blah Blah groups buying TV ads and billboard space to tell people that perverts, pedophiles, and predators will be threatening our children and frightening our womenfolk. The cost of creating and distributing educational materials to counter these kinds of lies will be phenomenal, but it needs to be done in order to inform the public about the issues so they can vote intelligently. Transgender people make up such a small minority that most people don't understand what the deal is. It's easy to marginalize and stereotype them without giving it any thought, but with a little information and a little effort it's not hard to learn to respect people who are different from you.

It takes money to get people to stop and think about it.

HRC members were among volunteers from Equality Maryland, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, TeachTheFacts, the National Center for Transgender Equality, NOW and other organizations, as well as law students, who have helped review signatures submitted in support of the proposed ballot measure. HRC’s contribution will support Basic Rights Montgomery’s general work. For more information on Basic Rights Montgomery please visit: www.basicrightsmontgomery.org.

Wow, when I copied-and-pasted that I didn't realize we were mentioned in this press release. Yes, TTF is fully in accord with the goals of Basic Rights Montgomery. We think people can treat one another with respect and fairness. We fought for it in the schools and now we'll stand with Basic Rights Montgomery, fighting for equality in our county's laws.