Tag Archives: equality

transgender rights

FAMA Passes the House–Vote Tally

FAMA

Today, the House voted 82-57 to pass the Fairness for All Marylanders Act, the transgender equality bill. This day would not have come without the hard work of many people. The Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality along with Equality Maryland’s Carrie Evans and Keith Thirion worked indefatigably on this issue.

Of course, the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Rich Madaleno and Del. Luke Clippinger, also deserve much credit. While she was not the lead sponsor this year, Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk worked hard for many years on this issue, as did Sen. Jamie Raskin. I know Del. Bonnie Cullison did much to move the bill forward this year as well.

A total of twelve Democrats voted against the bill. No Republicans voted for the bill. Here is the vote tally in the House of Delegates (listed  by district):

YEA (all D): Busch, Clagett, Olszewski, Bromwell, Jones, Nathan-Pulliam, Cardin, Morhaim, Stein, Bobo, DeBoy, Mallone, Guzzone, Pendergrass, F. Turner, Kaiser, Luedtke, Zucker, Dumais, Fraser-Hidalgo, A. Miller, Frick, A. Kelly, Lee, Barve, Gilchrist, Simmons, Carr, Gutiérrez, Waldstreicher, Arora, Cullison, Kramer, Hixson, Hucker, Mizeur, Barnes, Frush, Peña-Melnyk, Gaines, Healy, A. Washington, Holmes, Hubbard, Valentino-Smith, Howard, Swain, Braveboy, Davis, Griffith, V. Turner, Valderrama, Proctor, Vallario, Murphy, Beidle, Love, Cane, Barkley, Reznik, S. Robinson, Conaway, B. Robinson, Tarrant, Carter, Oaks, Rosenberg, Lafferty, Anderson, McIntosh, M. Washington, Haynes, Mitchell, Stukes, Branch, Glenn, Clippinger, Hammen, McHale, Ivey, Niemann, Summers.

NAY (all R unless indicated): Beitzel, K. Kelly (D), Myers, Donoghue (D), Parrott, Serafini, Hogan, Hough, Afzali, Elliott, Schulz, Kach, Ready, Stocksdale, Minnick (D), Weir (D), Impallaria, McDonough, Szeliga, Boteler, Cluster, Bates, Krebs, W. Miller, Burns (D), Vaughn (D), Walker (D), Fisher, Jameson (D), Wilson (D), Bohanan (D), O’Donnell, Wood, George, McMillan, Dwyer, Kipke, Schuh, Sophocleus (D), Costa, McConkey, Vitale, Glass, James (D), Rudolph (D), McComas, Norman, Stifler, Arentz, Jacobs, Smigiel, Eckardt, Haddaway-Riccio, Conway (D), McDermott, Otto, Aumann.

NOT VOTING: Frank (R), Harper (D)

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LGBT, transgender rights

FAMA Passes Committee

The Fairness for All Marylanders Act, the bill to promote transgender equality sponsored by Del. Luke Clippinger, has now passed the Health and Government Operations Committee in the House of Delegates. Del. Bonnie Cullison was especially helpful in seeing the bill through the committee.

Next step to final passage is the full House, though it still has to go through the amendment process and a final vote there. Any changes would require compromise with the Senate, which has already passed the legislation.

Voting YEA on the bill were: Hammen, Pendergrass, Bromwell, Cullison, Hubbard, Kelly, Morhaim, Nathan-Pulliam, Oaks, Peña-Melnyk, Reznik, Tarrant, and Turner.

Voting NAY on the bill were: Costa, Donoghue, Elliot, Kach, Kipke, Krebs, McDonough, and Ready.

Delegates Murphy and Frank did not vote.

All of the yes voters were cast by Democrats and all but one of the no votes were from Republicans. Del. John Donoghue (D-2, Washington) was the only Democrat to vote no.

Note: An earlier version reported Frank voted yes. My intel was off.

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LGBT, transgender rights

Dem Gov Hopefuls Testify for FAMA

govhopefulsDel. Heather Mizeur, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, and AG Doug Gansler

We’re fortunate that all three of the major Democratic candidates for governor are strong supporters of the Fairness for All Marylanders Act, the trans equality legislation. I know many appreciate their united support despite other differences, so I thought I’d share snippets of their testimony.

Today, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown will testify before the House Health and Government Operations Committee in support of the bill. He issued a press release stating:

“No Marylander should face discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientaion,” said Lt. Governor Brown. “By passing the Fairness for All Marylanders Act we will take an important step forward for equality and provide Marylanders with the assurance that here, in our State, all citizens will be afforded equal rights and protections under the law.”

Attorney General Doug Gansler advocated for marriage equality long before it become fashionable. Here is a portion of the testimony he submitted to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee:

The Constitution’s command to provide “the equal protection of the laws” applies to “any person” within a state’s jurisdiction, regardless of that person’s identity. We deprive our citizens of that equal protection when we allow discrimination against them on the basis of their gender identity. Inequality for any person is inequality for all of us. Gender identity, like race, sex, sexual orientation, and creed, must not be tolerated as a ground for denying any person the opportunity to obtain employment, housing, and public accommodation.

Del. Heather Mizeur is a member of the LGBT Caucus and a longtime advocate for this legislation. As the Washington Blade reported, she advocated strongly in favor before the Senate committee:

Baltimore County and City, Montgomery and Howard Counties – four of our state’s larger jurisdictions have stepped up to provide nearly half of our state’s residents protection from gender identity discrimination.

But protection against discrimination shouldn’t depend on your zip code.  We need a statewide law.

And we cannot wait.  Real people are suffering real consequences of our inaction.

Fear and prejudice are not acceptable reason for assigning a vulnerable group of Marylanders to a future of discriminatory practices in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

17 states and the District of Columbia have stepped forward to do this.  The Chrissy Lee Polis’s in Prince George’s County, Southern, Northern, Western Maryland, and the Eastern Shore are expecting us to do the right thing – to prove to them that Maryland really is the Free State where everyone – EVERYONE – gets protected equally under the law.

There can be no exceptions. And there are no excuses.

The House has passed a version of this bill previously. Now that the blockage in the Senate has cleared, we should “get it done” as Heather put it in her testimony and to me.

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