Apr 20, 2007  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

After searching two months for work as an auto mechanic, Celeste Hall reached an inescapable conclusion.

There were jobs available at shops in Montgomery County, but none that were open to trans applicants.

“I mean, I had one hiring manager say, ‘Well, we’d like to hire you, but we’re worried about how the other employees will react to you,’” said Hall, a 45-year-old transgender woman who lives in Silver Spring.

Hall, who’s worked 28 years as an auto mechanic, said she repeatedly encountered prejudice before a shop reluctantly hired her.

“I had one gentleman lean across the desk, look me square in the eyes and ask, ‘Do you find your breasts get in the way?’”

To help Hall and others, Montgomery County soon will consider a measure that would bar discrimination against transgender people living and working within the county.

The measure would bar discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations. If passed, Montgomery County would join Baltimore as among the few Maryland jurisdictions to have such laws.

Scott Davenport, president of Equality Montgomery County, said the protections are needed despite the county’s liberal reputation.

“I think Montgomery County is a very progressive place to live and to work,” he said. “But I think there are still a lot of prejudices that exist beneath the surface, which individuals who are transgender trigger in people.”

Dana Beyer, who works for Montgomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg, agreed. Beyer, who is transgender, said prejudice and discrimination are found within the county of about 1 million residents.

“There are a lot of people here,” she said, “and even though it’s an extremely liberal county, there are people here who suffer from discrimination.”

But she said the measure, if passed, would represent a substantial step forward.

“None of these laws automatically make the world into a utopia,” Beyer said. “But they signify that government takes the issue seriously, and expects people to act decently and within the law. And that can change lives.”

Efforts to advance the local measure come after state legislators in Annapolis failed to pass a bill enacting similar safeguards statewide.

By a 6-5 vote, the Senate judicial proceedings committee rejected last month a measure that sought to outlaw transgender discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit and public accommodations.

Although the vote came largely along party lines, Sens. Norman Stone Jr. (D-Baltimore County) and C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s County) both opposed the bill.

“Everybody here knows what happened in Annapolis, and they’re rather upset at those results,” Beyer said. “So I expect we’ll have even more support now than when we first introduced this to the council in January.”

Nonetheless, Davenport said he and other Equality Montgomery County members will lobby for the proposal.

“Particularly given the denial by the state Senate of the statewide protections,” he said, “we think it’s crucial that it be enacted at the county level.”

The measure is well positioned to pass. Among the nine council members, five indicated in campaign questionnaires they support “adding protection for gender identity and expression” to the county’s antidiscrimination code.

Marc Elrich, Valerie Ervin, Mike Knapp, George Leventhal and Trachtenberg all back the notion. Councilmembers Phil Andrews, Nancy Floreen and Marilyn Praisner all indicated in their August 2006 questionnaires they wanted to see the proposed law before committing to it. No questionnaire was available for Roger Berliner.

Beyer said she’s hopeful councilmembers will pass the measure when it comes up for vote sometime during June or July.

“It’s about accommodating a specific group of people who suffer discrimination routinely because their actions to repair their congenital development anomaly, otherwise known as a birth defect, is a socially significant action — a very visible action — one that brings about fundamental changes in that person’s life,” she said. “And that spills over into employment and housing and all the rest.”

Activists said the bill, if passed, could have influence beyond the county’s borders. Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, said the local measure could help enact similar protections at the state level.

“The more jurisdictions in Maryland that recognize the importance of protecting citizens from gender expression-motivated discrimination,” he said, “the better our case will be that the state should make this change across the board.”

Hall said that change is long overdue.

“We’re not a bunch of Jerry Springer-esque, screaming queens, if you will,” she said. “We’re just people trying to make a living, support our families, pay our health insurance, pay our taxes. We’re just trying to be citizens, like everyone else.”