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“A dream you dream alone is only a dream; a dream you dream together is reality.” — Yoko Ono
Sep
11
Maryland “Showers” Campaign Shot Down By Court
Filed Under LGBTQ, bigotry, courts, gender, human rights, legislation, trans, transphobia and trans misogyny | Posted by Cara |
Exactly one month ago, I wrote about the “Not In My Shower” campaign being run by a conservative group in Maryland. It was a piece of blatant bigotry, designed to reverse gains made for transgender rights in the state by arguing that the new anti-discrimination law would embolden sexual predators. They were seeking to overturn the law through a referendum this November.
But via Questioning Transphobia comes the news that Lambda Legal successfully challenged the petition to put the issue on the ballot.
On November 13, 2007, in order to address discrimination against transgender individuals, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed an act that added gender identity to the county’s civil rights law. A group calling itself Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) sought to block the law by gathering signatures for a referendum petition. We challenged the referendum because the Montgomery County Board of Election over counted the signatures in violation of the rules governing the process, and Maryland’s highest court ruled in our favor.
“This long overdue, crucial law is all about assuring that unchecked bias is not allowed to inhibit our neighbors’ abilities to make a living or rent a home, and as a Montgomery County resident, I breathe a sigh of relief that this campaign to roll back anti-discrimination protections is now over,” said Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland.
Good news. Though I somehow can’t quite believe yet that we’ve heard the end of this . . .
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“Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.” — Susan B. Anthony
We probably haven’t heard the end of it…but it did make me happy. I get to continuing living in a county where you can’t treat someone like shit just because they happen to be a trans person. Now if we can just do something about the 5 million other reasons why people treat each other like shit…
Yay! For all the people who ask “when do we get some GOOD news, Cara?”, you’ve answered “today!”
It’s still a little sad that we have these arguments over whether it’s okay to be discriminatory. Is it ever okay? I don’t think so.
But I’m glad Maryland has taken this one step forward.
Lambada Legal?
This concept amuses me to no end.
Thanks for reposting. :)
Ha! Thanks for catching that. I do like my way better though! :)
[...] with, by connecting transgender people to perversion, pedophilia, and other sexual violence. The campaign failed in court, and the equal protection law stayed in tact. But that’s not preventing other bigots from [...]