We Got The Short End Again

It seems like the deck is always stacked against us…

Maryland Senate Committee Votes Down Bill That Would Have Banned Transgender Discrimination
The Huffington Post
By Hunter Stuart
Posted: 03/15/2013

A state Senate committee in Maryland dealt a tough blow to transgender rights Thursday by voting down a bill that would have banned gender-identity discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation.

The committee voted 6-5 to narrowly defeat the Fairness For All Marylanders Act Of 2013, which would have added "gender identity" to the law that right now prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, marital status and sexual orientation, The Washington Blade reports.

The bill may have been doomed when a senator who supported it was moved off the committee and replaced by one who voted against it, Metro Weekly writes. That switch was made by Senate leadership in order to pass a wind energy bill, the paper notes.

Of course there are also the usual doomsayers including Family Research Council who lobbied against the bill. You might remember that back in 2007 there was a petition drive for a referendum against the gender inclusive anti-discrimination bill that eventually ended up in the state’s Court of Appeals which threw out the petition.