At the end of July 2011 Gender Rights Maryland was contacted by Heath Goisovich of PFLAG Columbia/Howard County who reflected that he and Catherine Hyde, also of PFLAG, had been in contact with Councilmember Courtney Watson regarding amending the current protections in Howard County to include Gender Identity and Expression. Shortly thereafter Councilmember Watson informed both of them that she and Council Chair Calvin Ball had agreed to both work on the bill and were now joining forces.
An initial draft of the bill was generated at that time and GRMD was asked for an opinion on the draft language, which was a mélange of the Baltimore City and Montgomery County versions of these protections. Lisa Mottet, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the preeminent legal scholar on this type of legislation, was also consulted and made available to the council members for consultation. Lisa made comments and suggestions on the proposed bill and did so in coordination with GRMD.
One of the issues that arose in August was how the pending legislation would affect the Howard County Public School System. To assist the school board and administration GRMD sought out Allison Gill of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to advise the county on how to approach policy issues within the schools. It is important to note that all of these efforts were being made in consultation with the Howard County Human Rights Commission, which would have the job of enforcement of the forthcoming law.
This concern of the school system continued into September and was delayed by the start of the school year. GLSEN produced their model policy regarding trans kids for the schools and it was forwarded for consideration. In the end, the school system was included in the bill, or more specifically, an exception for the schools was removed from the final version of the bill.
It should be understood that there were daily calls, consultations and emails among the bill organizers and sponsors which are too numerous to outline here. Topics ranged from getting supporting testimony, researching opposition positions, to resolving questions of policy. This process allowed a direct interaction between the activists and council members to insure all issues, concerns, and actions were coordinated and addressed.
On October 27, the bill in its final form was filed. At that time PFLAG and GRMD began working on organizing testimony for the public hearing to be held on November 21, 2011. It was clear that two things needed to happen at this hearing. The first would be a strong public show of support for the effort. To that end, we suggested that we choose purple as a visible sign of support for the bill. The second would be the collection of testimony for the council that would cover all aspects of the bill and its impact on the community. GRMD would coordinate the national organizations and their testimony, and PFLAG would coordinate parent testimony. The result was coordinated testimony from PFLAG, GRMD, GLSEN, Pride@Work, NGLTF, National Center for Lesbian Rights, League of Women Voters, Equality Maryland, the ACLU, Delegate Liz Bobo, Registrar of Wills Byron McFarlane, parents of trans kids, Howard County trans residents, and others. This coalition was representative of the broad spectrum of trans people, parents, allies and organizations working in support of this effort.
On November 21, this panel, along with the preparation of the Council members, made this a session a great success. There were nearly 70 supporters present, with 20 people and organizations testifying for the bill and only 4, largely ineffective and ill prepared, opponents present. To quote Councilmember Jen Terassa, “You guys made our job easy, thank you”. Our view is this was essentially a successful dress rehearsal for our forthcoming state session.
Now, after much hard work, we have expanded protections in Howard and done so with a broad coalition of support. Does this success automatically translate to the state? Probably not, as each venue has its own nuance. However, it yields great momentum and cannot be ignored. Let’s take these lessons learned to heart and apply them moving ahead. On to Annapolis!
Sharon Brackett is Gender Rights Maryland Board Chair.
