Feisty Aphrodite Archives
Lawsuit Alleges Errors In Anti-Trans Measure
The following is from 365Gay.com:
A group of registered voters in Montgomery Co., Maryland has filed suit against the County Board of Elections alleging improprieties in the certification of a ballot measure to overturn a gender identity anti-discrimination law.
Last November the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed a law to ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression.
A socially conservative group collected signatures to have the measure overturned and earlier this month the Board of Elections certified the petitions, placing the issue on November's ballot.
The voters group opposing the referendum is made of transgender county residents, parents, several clergy, a law enforcement officer and some business owners. The lawsuit is being supported by Equality Maryland, the state's largest LGBT rights organization.
The suit says that there were errors in the way the signatures were collected and that the county should have been more careful in verifying the names were legitimate.
The lawsuit also notes that the certification of the petitions has prevented the gender identity anti-discrimination law from going into effect.
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In a statement, Equality Maryland said that the legislation is similar to laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity enacted in more than 100 jurisdictions nationally, including 13 states and Washington, D.C.
In Maryland, Baltimore City passed a similar law unanimously in 2002 and last year Gov. Martin O'Malley reissued an Executive Order to clarify that transgender-motivated discrimination will not be tolerated in the state hiring process.
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, approximately 38 percent of the U.S. population already live in jurisdictions with gender identity laws on the books.
Read the entire article here.
