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AMY CAVANAUGH
Friday, September 26, 2008
A
law
extending
new
rights
to
Montgomery
County’s
transgender
residents
and
workers
is
winning
early
praise
from
activists
and
others
who
fought
to
secure
it.
Maryanne
Arnow
of
Equality
Maryland
said
the
law,
which
went
into
effect
earlier
this
month,
“adds
a
layer
of
comfort
to
what
is
often
an
overwhelmingly
difficult
process,
since
transitioning
is
a
public
process
because
of
the
clinical
standards
that
one
has
to
adhere
to.
“It
gives
me
a
great
sense
of
security
knowing
that
I
have
the
full
force
of
the
law
behind
me,
should
any
discriminatory
situation
occur
at
work
or
in
public
places.”
Celeste
Hall,
a
transgender
woman
who
said
she
faced
prejudice
when
she
sought
work
in
Montgomery
County,
agreed.
“Hopefully,
if
I
apply
for
a
job
in
Montgomery
County
again,”
she
said,
“I
won’t
have
managers
telling
me,
‘We’d
like
to
hire
you,
but
worry
about
how
other
employees
will
react
to
you.’”
The
Maryland
Court
of
Appeals
decided
Sept.
9
that
the
law,
which
prohibits
discrimination
in
employment,
housing
and
other
areas
based
on
gender
identity,
would
not
require
public
ratification.
The
victory
came
nearly
one
year
after
the
Employment
Non-Discrimination
Act
(ENDA)
passed
the
U.S.
House
of
Representatives
without
transgender
protections.
The
removal
of
the
trans
provision
angered
many
activists,
who
criticized
HRC
for
refusing
to
oppose
the
gay-only
version
of
the
bill.
Jim
Kennedy
of
Teach
the
Facts,
a
group
that
promotes
fact-based
education
in
Montgomery
County
schools,
said
HRC
fiercely
defended
the
local
trans
rights
measure.
“The
HRC,
who
did
not
really
support
the
transgender
part
of
ENDA,
really
got
involved
in
the
Montgomery
County
battle,
and
contributed
a
lot
of
money
and
resources,”
said
Kennedy.
“So
that
is
a
shift,
and
it’s
important
for
them
to
do
that.”
Jeremy
Pittman,
HRC’s
national
deputy
field
director,
said
that
HRC
did
not
see
the
Montgomery
County
transgender
legislation
as
a
way
to
make
amends
for
ENDA.
“This
is
exactly
the
same
kind
of
work
we’ve
done
in
supporting
state
level
initiatives
for
providing
LGBT
equality
for
years,
and
we
would
have
given
the
same
level
of
support
regardless
of
what
happened
last
year
with
the
ENDA
battle,”
he
said.
Pittman
said
HRC
provided
$5,000
to
help
fund
the
case
that
went
to
the
Maryland
Court
of
Appeals
and
$20,000
to
help
start
Basic
Rights
Montgomery,
a
coalition
formed
to
support
the
trans
rights
measure.
Undoing
the
damage
Although
some
anger
remains
over
ENDA,
activists
said
they’re
seeing
a
shift
in
how
trans
rights
are
viewed
within
the
gay
civil
rights
movement.
“The
Montgomery
County
law
shows
continued
progress
in
support
of
transgender
rights,”
said
Donna
Cartwright,
communications
director
of
Pride
at
Work,
an
AFL-CIO
constituency
group.
“I
think
there’s
always
been
a
great
deal
of
collaboration
between
gay
and
transgender
groups,
but
it’s
heartening
that
this
cooperation
and
solidarity
continues.”
Arnow
said
that
the
Mont-gomery
County
legislation
undoes
some
of
the
damage
caused
by
last
year’s
ENDA
feud.
“Even
though
there
is
no
blanket,
federal
non-discrimination
act
that
protects
transgender
people,
and
in
Maryland
there’s
no
statewide
act,
at
least
now
a
comprehensive
non-discrimination
act
protecting
transgender
people
has
been
passed
in
the
county
where
I
live
and
work,”
she
said.
Equality
Maryland
board
member
Dana
Beyer,
who
is
transgender,
said
the
combined
efforts
to
protect
Montgomery
County’s
law
represented
a
step
forward.
“This
past
year,
we’ve
been
doing
education
on
it,”
she
said,
“and
had
we
simply
passed
the
bill
unanimously
and
gone
on
to
the
next
thing,
we
wouldn’t
have
had
the
opportunity
to
do
education
locally
and
nationally.”
Dan
Furmansky,
Equality
Maryland’s
executive
director,
agreed
that
much
has
changed
since
last
year’s
ENDA
dispute.
“I
think
the
one
merit
to
having
the
legislation
reach
the
ballot
would
have
been
showing
members
of
Congress
that
the
public
truly
supports
this
kind
of
legislation,”
he
said.
“However,
it
was
far
more
important
to
put
this
into
effect
immediately
and
shut
down
the
campaign
of
negative
rhetoric
surrounding
it.”
Lisa
Mottet,
the
transgender
civil
rights
project
director
at
the
National
Gay
&
Lesbian
Task
Force,
said
that
her
organization
helped
with
the
case
that
went
to
the
Maryland
Court
of
Appeals,
donated
$20,000
to
found
Basic
Rights
Montgomery
and
organized
phone
banks
that
raised
another
$12,000
for
Basic
Rights
Montgomery.
“I
think
the
transgender
community
in
Montgomery
County
was
really
surprised
and
thrilled
at
how
much
the
entire
LGBT
community
in
Montgomery
County
and
Maryland
and
the
D.C.
area
really
came
together
to
defeat
this
measure,”
she
said.
“I
believe
we’re
going
to
win
a
transgender-inclusive
ENDA
in
Congress,
and
this
is
just
one
of
the
victories
along
the
way.”
Other
evidence
of
mended
bridges
can
be
found
online
at
Kennedy’s
blog,
teachthefacts.org,
where
gay
and
transgender
people
are
interacting
in
the
comments
section.
“It’s
been
interesting
to
watch
them
talk
to
each
other
and
see
the
gay
commentators
understand
the
transgender
situation,”
said
Kennedy,
who
is
straight.
“There’s
a
lot
of
learning,
since
gay
people
don’t
necessarily
empathize
with
the
transgender
situation.
But
from
talking
to
one
another,
they
see
that
both
groups
face
a
lot
of
the
same
problems.”
Kennedy
noted
on
his
blog
that
during
a
recent
trip
to
the
Giant
grocery
store
in
Germantown,
Md.,
people
against
Montgomery
County’s
trans
law
were
seeking
signatures
to
again
challenge
the
law.
He
said
opponents
“were
lying
to
people
about
what
the
bill
is
about.
They
were
asking
if
people
wanted
to
sign
a
petition
to
keep
men
out
of
women’s
restrooms.
“What
they
want
to
do
is
stand
there
and
scare
people
and
create
a
negative
association
with
transgender
people
and
link
them
to
sexual
predators.”
Michelle
Turner,
a
leader
of
Citizens
for
a
Responsible
Govern-ment,
which
organized
the
law’s
first
challenge,
did
not
return
the
Blade’s
calls
for
comment.
Despite
the
continued
challenges,
activists
said
the
victory
in
Montgomery
County
has
given
them
new
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