How Will Maryland’s House Vote?

It looks like the people of Maryland know better than the legislature according to a poll,

Poll Shows Transgender Rights Bill Has Wide Support, While Lawmaker Fears 'Guy In A Dress' (UPDATED)
The Huffington Post
By Arin Greenwood
Posted: 03/20/2014

A Maryland bill that would prohibit discrimination against transgender people has overwhelming support among state residents, according to a new poll.

Opponents, meanwhile, continue to obsess about men in dresses nefariously hanging around women's bathrooms -- even while acknowledging that they're probably going to lose this one.

The Goucher Poll found that 71 percent of those surveyed said that they favor including gender identity in the state's anti-discrimination laws. Twenty percent were opposed. Metro Weekly reports majority support from both women and men, from black, white and "other" races, and from Republicans (60-27), Democrats (79-15) and independents (68-23).

The Senate voted earlier in the month 32-15 to pass the bill and now it is going to the house, but the opposition is gearing up to fight the bill and of course the fight is over public accommodations. One of the House delegates said in her newsletter,

I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I am completely and unequivocally opposed to this bill which doesn't aim to end discrimination, but to normalize abnormal behavior.

HB 1265 seeks to create a new class of protected individuals in the state's anti-discrimination statute. Specifically, the bill defines "gender identity" as "appearance, expression, or behavior of an individual regardless of the individual's assigned sex at birth."

It is important that Maryland does not separate one's "gender identify" and their "assigned sex at birth" as noted in the bill. Like the majority of Marylanders, I share the view that this redefinition rejects our society's understanding of human nature. So ladies if you happen to see a guy in a dress in the restaurant bathroom, you'll know the bill passed and that I voted NO!

The opposition isn’t conceding defeat but they do realize that the bill will probably pass and the governor will sign it making Maryland the eighteenth state to protect us.