For all intents and purposes, as a result of the federal court decisions in the sixth, DC, and the recent blockbuster opinion from the 11th (Alabama!) Circuit, trans and gender non-conforming people are free and equal citizens of these United States, a protected class subject to heightened scrutiny, against whom any discrimination is simple sex discrimination.
Three Maryland jurisdictions, and possibly soon a fourth, will have their own protections, bringing those protected in the state to nearly half as well.
And in spite of all this, and the changes being made in the federal government and its agencies,
And the new chicness of the trans population in the media and entertainment fields, as evidenced with the attention paid to Chaz Bono, and the programs on trans children from Anderson Cooper, Oprah and Barbara Walters,
And the formal changes coming this year to the American Psychiatric Association, following on the heels of the AMA and the American Psychological Association, and the now overwhelming consensus position of the medical community that being trans is a biological phenomenon, and not a mental illness,
And the growing support for trans diversity among 50% of Fortune 500 companies, more than half of which provide trans health care:
In Montgomery County, Maryland, the bluest of all our counties, a small group of fundamentalist extremists simply are unable to let go of their fear and hate. The Citizens for a Responsible Government are now whining to the state ethics commission about the Montgomery County Ethics Commission. They are filing charges against them because they lost their battle to overturn the Montgomery County gender identity law of 2007, and then they lost their campaign to punish those who supported the law, and four years later, they still haven’t gotten over it and moved on. Never mind that all their fear mongering never came to pass. It has never come to pass anywhere in this country.
So as we enter this upcoming session let’s remember who our real enemies are. And, no, they are not simply religious fundamentalists. They are the hate and fear based on ignorance that propel those fundamentalists.
Last week, after comparing the gay community to the Klan, the Chicago archbishop offered an apology, to which our civil rights opponents should pay heed:
"I am truly sorry for the hurt my remarks have caused," Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. "Particularly because we all have friends or family members who are gay and lesbian. This has evidently wounded a good number of people. I have family members myself who are gay and lesbian, so it's part of our lives. So I'm sorry for the hurt. When I was talking I was speaking out of fear that I have for the church's liberty and I was reaching for an analogy which was very inappropriate for which I'm sorry. I didn't realize the impact of what I was saying...Sometimes fear is a bad motivation."
These people are afraid, of us and their gay and lesbian neighbors and family members whom they still cannot bring themselves to acknowledge. They need help to overcome those fears.
It is 2012. It’s time.
