Local
O’Malley ‘absolutely’ building support for Md. trans bill
Governor was seen as leader in state’s battle over same-sex marriage
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says he’s ‘absolutely’ reaching to lawmakers to pass trans rights bill (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Monday said he’s “absolutely” reaching out to state lawmakers to encourage them to pass a transgender rights bill.
O’Malley affirmed his support for the measure when speaking with the Washington Blade at the White House following a meeting between President Obama and members of the National Governors Association.
“I’ve supported that bill in the past, support it again this year,” O’Malley said. “I think we should pass it, and, in fact, I testified in favor of it when I was mayor some seven years ago in the state legislature.”
Asked if he’s reaching out to lawmakers to encourage them to pass the bill, O’Malley replied, “Sure am. I absolutely am.”
O’Malley’s support for the bill could prove crucial as he was among the driving forces behind the same-sex marriage bill lawmakers approved last year. The governor also campaigned in support of the issue ahead of last November’s referendum on the law he signed.
The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Tuesday will hold a hearing on the bill–the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2013–that would ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing and public accommodations. State Sens. Rich Madaleno and Jamie Raskin of Montgomery Country formally introduced the measure last month.
Dana Beyer, executive director of the statewide transgender group Gender Rights Maryland, affirmed O’Malley has been active in building support for the transgender rights legislation.
“Gov. O’Malley has been very supportive of the trans community since his days as Mayor of Baltimore, when he led the city in its creation of the state’s first anti-discrimination law,” Beyer said. “Today he is lending his full support with his colleagues in Annapolis as the statewide law begins to work its way through the Senate. We at Gender Rights Maryland applaud all his hard work on behalf of our community, and are very grateful to have our governor as our leading ally.”
The proposal died in committee last February because Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller (D-Prince George’s and Calvert Counties) reportedly blocked a vote on it. Advocates are more optimistic the bill will pass this year, in part, because he now supports it.
NOTE: This posting has been updated to include a comment from Dana Beyer.
Michael K. Lavers contributed to this story.
District of Columbia
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
‘This is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on March 20 signed a bill approved by the D.C. Council that requires health insurance companies to cover the costs of HIV prevention or PrEP drugs for D.C. residents at risk for HIV infection.
Like all legislation approved by the Council and signed by the mayor, the bill, called the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act, was sent to Capitol Hill for a required 30-day congressional review period before it takes effect as D.C. law.
Gay D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) last year introduced the bill.
Insurance coverage for PrEP drugs has been provided through coverage standards included in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But AIDS advocacy organizations have called on states and D.C. to pass their own legislation requiring insurance coverage of PrEP as a safeguard in case federal policies are weakened or removed by the Trump administration, which has already reduced federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs.
Like legislation passed by other states, the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act requires insurers to cover all PrEP drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Studies have shown that PrEP drugs, which can be taken as pills or by injection just twice a year, are highly effective in preventing HIV infection.
“I think this is a win for our community,” Parker said after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to approve the bill on its first vote on the measure in February. “And this is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
District of Columbia
Blade editor to be inducted into D.C. Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame
Kevin Naff marks 24 years with publication this year
Longtime Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff will be inducted into D.C.’s Society of Professional Journalists Hall of Fame in June, the group announced this week.
Hall of Fame honorees are chosen by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter. Naff and two other inductees — Seth Borenstein, a Washington-based national science writer for the AP and Cheryl W. Thompson, an award-winning correspondent for National Public Radio — will be celebrated at the chapter’s Dateline Awards dinner on Tuesday, June 9, at the National Press Club. The dinner’s emcee will be Kojo Nnamdi, host of WAMU radio’s weekly “Politics Hour.”
“I am tremendously honored by this recognition,” Naff said. “I have spent a lifetime in the D.C. area learning from so many talented journalists and am humbled to be considered in their company. Thank you to SPJ and to all the LGBTQ pioneers who came before me who made this possible.”
Naff joined the Blade in 2002 after years in print and digital journalism. He worked as a financial reporter for Reuters in New York before moving to Baltimore in 1996 to launch the Baltimore Sun’s website. He spent four years at the Sun before leaving for an internet startup and later joining the mobile data group at Verizon Wireless working on the first generation of mobile apps.
He then moved to the Blade and has served as the publication’s longest-tenured editor. In 2023, Naff published his first book, “How We Won the War for LGBTQ Equality — And How Our Enemies Could Take It All Away.”
Previous Hall of Fame inductees include luminaries in journalism like Wolf Blitzer, Benjamin Bradlee, Bob Woodward, Andrea Mitchell, and Edgar Allen Poe. The Blade’s senior news reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. was inducted in 2015.
Maryland
Supreme Court ruling against conversion therapy bans could affect Md. law
Then-Gov. Larry Hogan signed statute in 2018
By PAMELA WOOD, JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV, and MADELEINE O’NEILL | The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against a law banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ kids in Colorado, a ruling that also could apply to Maryland’s ban on the discredited practice.
An 8-1 high court majority sided with a Christian counselor who argues the law banning talk therapy violates the First Amendment. The justices agreed that the law raises free speech concerns and sent it back to a lower court to decide whether it meets a legal standard that few laws pass.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the court’s majority, said the law “censors speech based on viewpoint.” The First Amendment, he wrote, “stands as a shield against any effort to enforce orthodoxy in thought or speech in this country.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
JD Vance to travel to Hungary next week
Pam Bondi ousted as attorney general
VIDEO: Gay journalist detained for booing Trumps at ‘Chicago’ opening night
Idaho Gov. signs harshest anti-trans bathroom bill in the country
‘Out for McDuffie’ event held at D.C. gay bar
‘Jonah’ an undeniably compelling but unusual memory play
The Oscar-losing performance that’s too good to miss
Thousands attend ‘No Kings’ protests in D.C.
