Feb 20, 2009  |  By: Amy Cavanaugh  | COMMENTS     

Maryland state lawmakers are expected to consider a bill that would add gender identity to
laws barring discrimination in employment, housing and other areas within the next two weeks.

The bill, a top priority for Equality Maryland, will be heard in the House Health & Government Operations Committee on Feb. 25 at 1 p.m., and in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 4 at 1 p.m.

Sponsored by Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk (D-Prince George’s County), the House version has 66 co-sponsors. The Senate version, sponsored by Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), has 13 co-sponsors.

Equality Maryland is bringing supporters to Annapolis for both hearings. Dan Furmansky, the group’s former executive director and current political consultant, said participants would gather Feb. 25 at 11 a.m. for a lunch and briefing.

“We will have various folks testifying with personal stories of discrimination, human services professionals and individuals from the state human relations commission,” Furmansky said.

He said that Equality Maryland has not yet finalized plans for March 4, but a gathering is also planned that day.

Among those slated to testify is Sandy Rawls, executive director of Trans United, a Baltimore-based organization that assists transgender people through advocacy, direct support and referrals to resources.

Rawls, who is transgender, said that her organization formed in 1997 and became a non-profit in March 2008. It’s headquartered at Fusion Partnership in downtown Baltimore.

Rawls, 40, said she formed the group “because of the fact that we didn’t have any places to go without being discriminated against or people treating us violently, or calling names and throwing bottles.”

“The goal is to unite the transgender community in Baltimore and the East Coast,” Rawls said. “We want to do that by raising awareness of health and wellness issues, education and peer-to-peer support.”

Rawls said Trans United also furthers its goals by offering services, including General Educational Development training, HIV-prevention classes and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. There’s also a bi-monthly social group.

“We talk about everything from pantyhose to sexual reassignment surgery,” Rawls said.

Trans United has taken an increasingly active approach to state politics. Rawls spoke at Equality Maryland’s lobby day in Annapolis on Feb. 2, becoming involved with the event after meeting former policy director Carrie Evans last year.

“I asked her if we could talk and I told her my concern … that transgender people were politically illiterate and didn’t know a lot about politics and what was going on and how they could help the process along,” Rawls said.

For Rawls, helping the process along requires education as people share their experiences with legislators and each other. Rawls said she would be “leading a small cavalry” to Annapolis on Feb. 25, and that of the eight people who have committed to attending the hearing, four will testify.

“We’re going to let people know that discrimination against human beings is wrong,” she said. “Even if being transgender wasn’t biological … but a choice, these people are human beings.”

Rawls lives in Baltimore, where in 2002 Gov. Martin O’Malley, then the city’s mayor, signed a bill barring discrimination based on gender identity. She said that the law helps transgender people avoid depression and alcoholism, which occur when they face oppressive discrimination.

“You see a let up where transgender people are not discriminated against in areas of employment as much,” she said. “The numbers are still high, but because of the ordinance here they can rely on the law that employers can’t fire them because of transitioning.

“It’s easy to discriminate [against transgender people] when they are kept in a state where they can only do so much with their lives.”