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Md. House committee kills bill to ban transgender kids from sports teams

FreeState Justice said measure ‘specifically’ targeted trans girls

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(Public domain photo)

A Maryland House of Delegates committee has struck down a bill that sought to bar transgender children from joining school sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Feb. 24 killed the “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which would have required interscholastic or intramural athletic teams or sports sponsored by a public or private school to expressly designate based on biological sex. 

“This bill specifically targets transgender girls because of a false presumption that they have an unfair advantage,” said Jamie Grace Alexander, policy coordinator at FreeState Justice. 

FreeState Justice is a statewide advocacy organization that coalesces direct legal services and policy advocacy to serve the needs of LGBTQ communities in Maryland. 

The bill also suggested that governmental entities, licensing organizations and athletic organizations be barred from “[accepting] a complaint, [investigating], or [taking] any adverse action against a school or county board for maintaining separate [sports] for students of the female sex,” according to the fiscal and policy note. 

Now that it has been voted down, Alexander said that they and other LGBTQ activists can “focus on actual trans-affirming legislation we’ve been working on.”

“These things — [the bill] — are distractions that take energy away from the work we do year round,” they said. 

This recent legislative proposal follows a national trend wherein legal action is being taken to infringe upon the rights of trans children. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week instructed state agencies to investigate families who provide gender-affirming treatments to their children following his opinion that such treatments are a form of “child abuse.”

“Since the beginning of the 2021 legislative session, anti-LGBTQ+ politicians … have sought to turn Texans against their LGBTQ+ neighbors through an onslaught of harmful legislation, inflammatory rhetoric and discredited legal opinions,” Equality Texas CEO Ricardo Martinez told the Washington Blade last week in a statement. 

“They have found it politically advantageous to spread lies about and villainize LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender people, grossly mischaracterizing our lives to paint us as scary caricatures that need to be feared, all in service of securing their re-elections,” said Martinez.

Looking to the future, Alexander said that they and other LGBTQ activists are watching closely for the emergence of any anti-trans legislation.

“The senators who proposed [the Save Women’s Sports Act] are not senators we have relationships with,” they said. “So, we have to be proactive and put protections for trans people ahead of any anti-trans legislation.”

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Maryland

Md. Senate passes transgender sanctuary bill

Measure passed by 33-13 vote margin

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(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Maryland Senate on Tuesday approved a bill that would make Maryland a sanctuary state for transgender people who are seeking gender-affirming health care and providers who offer it.

Senate Bill 119 passed by a 33-13 vote margin.

State Sens. Clarence Lam (D-Anne Arundel and Howard Counties), Shelly Hettleman (D-Baltimore County) and Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery County) introduced SB 119. An identical bill has been put forth in the Maryland House of Delegates.

A law that requires Maryland’s Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatments took effect on Jan. 1.

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Maryland

Protests interrupt Moms for Liberty meeting about removing books in Howard County schools

Guest speaker led book-removal campaign in Carroll County

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Gabriella Monroe holds a poster that says 'Ban Bigotry Not Books' outside Howard County’s Central Branch library in Columbia on Feb. 26, 2024 (Photo by Sam Mallon for the Baltimore Banner)

BY KRISTEN GRIFFITH | When a Howard County chapter of Moms for Liberty wanted to learn how to remove books from schools, they were met with a swarm of protesters sporting rainbow colors and signs looking to send the message that such actions are not welcome in their district.

The conservative parents’ group met Monday night at Howard’s Central Branch library in Columbia to brainstorm how they could get books they deemed inappropriate out of their children’s school libraries. Their guest speaker for the evening was Jessica Garland, who led a successful book-removal campaign in Carroll County. The Howard chapter wanted the playbook.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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Maryland

Are Md. prisons out of bounds with federal requirements for trans prisoners?

Department of Correctional Services says transgender prisoners ‘housed according to physical genitalia’

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BY BEN CONARCK | Nearly a year after formerly incarcerated transgender people testified to Maryland lawmakers about the troubling conditions they faced in state prisons and Baltimore jails, the agency in charge of their care continues to violate federal standards in how it houses trans prisoners, according to a coalition of trans rights advocates.

The Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition, bolstered by policy experts and attorneys, contends that while the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has made some strides towards improving conditions, its policy of housing trans prisoners “according to physical genitalia” violates the federal standard that those individuals should be housed on a case-by-case basis determined by health and safety and any security problems, among other factors. The group laid out its argument in a 15-page memo presented to the department and lawmakers this week.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

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