Comments on: Maryland Senate kills trans rights bill

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:25:12 +0000

Yes – that would be the Boy Scouts v. Dale case.

There has been subsequent litigation regarding whether public entities can bar the Boy Scouts from public facilities based on their discriminatory policies, but the Boy Scouts’ right to discriminate is (unfortunately) settled law.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 19:04:23 +0000

What a surprise, the Dems in the Maryland General Assembly betrayed us again. It should be obvious now that we need to run Pro-LGBT Democrats against these sellout Dems in the primary season and replace them with supportive Dems who will vote for Same-sex marriage and Transgender protections.

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:01:17 +0000

“”It would have guarenteed many rights to transgender persons they aren’t guarenteed now.”

A legitimate, trans-inclusive civil rights bill in 2001 would have also.

“It is shameful that the Maryland legislature didn’t pass this bill.”

No. It is shameful that there was still a need for a trans rights bill at the close of the 2001 session of the Maryland Legislature given that, even by Free State Just Us’s own propaganda of the time, half of Maryland’s gays and lesbians already had civil rights protections at the beginning of the 2001 session.

Would all trans people in Maryland have had to wait if only 40% of gays and lesbians had then lacked coverage? 30%? 20%?

What exactly is the acceptable exclusion ratio?

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:51:42 +0000

Thank you Veronica. I had to look at Alice’s statement – and then mine – several times to figure out exactly what I said therein that would be “sickening” to anyone – given that it was precisely the same criticism that more than a few LGB and T people have made not only regarding the Barney-Solmonese-Obama Administration failure to make any real progress on any real issue that affects living non-militarists but also about the Obama Administrationin general for its ‘negotiation’ methodology with the Republicans on healthcare, taxes, et. al.

Methinks that with but eight words Alice managed to doth protest too much.

By: Rainbow

Rainbow — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:23:19 +0000

This is based on incorrect facts. National groups were not involved in this bill and it was a legislator’s decision not to include PA.

By: Peter Rosenstein

Peter Rosenstein — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 18:48:35 +0000

I am sorry to see this bill defeated and I consider it being recommitted to committee a defeat. Progress even if not total progress is still progress. We need to get legislatures to move on our rights. Some have complained that the bill now going through the Delaware legisature for civil unions isn’t good enough because it is not a marriage bill. I support the civil unions bill because that is what can get through now and it will provide many rights to gay and lesbian couples they now don’t have. The same could be said for the bill that just got defeated in Maryland. It would have guarenteed many rights to transgender persons they aren’t guarenteed now. It is shameful that the Maryland legislature didn’t pass this bill. I applaud Dana Beyer for all her hard work trying to get this bill passed and am sorry not more of the LGBT community in Maryland got out there fought with her.

By: Frankie James

Frankie James — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:35:58 +0000

I don’t think that day will ever come. Didn’t the Supreme Court give them the ok to descriminate?

By: Veronica

Veronica — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 11:10:37 +0000

Alice, your ad hominem insult adds no substance to the debate.

Kat is right. Without including language for public accommodations, there are serious safety issues that people like me face.

The big national LGB organizations fought hard to get a feather in their caps with this bill; they showed little regard for throwing T-folks under the bus in the process, by continuing to support the bill, even after the most essential language was stripped.

Apparently, the big orgs were really working in their own interests, rather than those of the marginalized minority they claimed to support.

By: The Boy Scouts Didn't Hire Me

The Boy Scouts Didn't Hire Me — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 06:08:14 +0000

Oddly enough I applied for a position with the Boy Scouts in their Web Development department and I am a trans person. I knew they wouldn’t hire me but I was definitely qualified to do the job. After the interview I never heard from them again. No surprise there. They were living in the past, like the 50′s I’d say. I don’t think they’d hire anyone that wasn’t extremely conservative no matter what their qualifications. I can’t wait for the day they’re required to hire trans people if they’re qualified for the job. The lies will abound. “You’re too tall” You’re too small” You’re too liberal” You’re too homo!” They can take that job and stick it!

By: Alice

Alice — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:40:36 +0000

Shut up and go away Kat. You are sickening.