Maryland
Transgender health care bill passes in Md. House committee
Trans Health Equity Act of 2022 passed by 14-8 vote margin
A bill that would require Maryland’s Medicaid program to provide coverage for gender-affirming treatment for transgender people passed in a Maryland House of Delegates committee on Friday.
The House Health and Government Operations Committee passed the Trans Health Equity Act of 2022 by a 14-8 vote margin. It will proceed to the House floor next week for consideration.
Legislators who sponsored the bill include state Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City), who believes that the committee vote is “a promising step in the right direction.”
“It’s been eight years since we passed legal protections outlawing discrimination against trans people in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations and credit,” she said in an email statement to the Washington Blade. “We are one step closer to enhancing these basic economic civil rights with the passage of a bill that protects the public health and safety of all LGBTQ people.”
Washington also added that the bill will remove barriers within the Medicaid program to cover the full range of gender affirming treatment and procedures for low-income people.
According to the bill’s revised fiscal and policy note, Medicaid would be required to cover individual procedures that range from less than $800 for voice therapy to more than $25,000 for facial feminization or masculinization surgeries.
This would increase Medicaid expenditures by $52,743 for individuals who are transitioning from male to female and $52,493 for individuals who are transitioning from female to male. The bill would also increase the number of Medicaid enrollees seeking treatment to 25 people a year, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
Prior to the vote, the Blade spoke to activists who attended a rally on Thursday in Annapolis in support of the Trans Health Equity Act.
Trans Maryland, Annapolis Pride and Baltimore Safe Haven, among other advocacy groups, organized the rally.
“It was a beautiful expression of trans resilience and pride at a time when so many states are attacking trans rights,” said Sam Williamson, a Skadden Fellow for Homeless Persons Representation Project, which provides free legal services for low-income persons who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
“This bill will save lives and bring Maryland Medicaid up-to-date with the leading medical standards for gender-affirming care,” they said.
Other activists also expressed faith in the bill’s future, given its prior success in the Senate.
“I feel good about it having passed the Senate, which is usually the more difficult chamber to get things out of,” said CP Hoffman, policy director at FreeState Justice, an organization that provides legal services and policy advocacy to trans individuals in the state.
Hoffman is also a practicing lawyer and member of the Maryland State Bar Association.
“Usually, I try to stay cautiously optimistic with all bills until they’ve passed every chamber,” they added.
Optimism among advocacy groups in the state isn’t blind.
Legal action will be imminent if Republican Gov. Larry Hogan doesn’t sign the bill into law.
“We are considering filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and bringing a federal discrimination action under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act,” said Hoffman.
FreeState Justice in the past has helped pass comprehensive non-discrimination state laws in favor of LGBTQ healthcare provisions.
In 2020, it helped overturn an archaic state law that prohibited nursing homes and hospitals from discriminating on the basis of race or national identity, but not sexuality. It also had health insurance non-discrimination rules, under the Affordable Care Act, written into state law so health insurers can’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, national origin and sex, among other identity markers.
Maryland
Girlfriends charged with Silver Spring murder to go on trial in 2027
Prosecutors charged both women with killing mother of one of them
Two women identified as a couple who are charged with the May 22, 2026, murder of the mother one of them in her Silver Spring home and who were arrested three weeks later in Ohio are scheduled to go on trial for murder April 19, 2027.
According to online records filed with Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville, Vanessa Tjongarero-Henderson, 29, of Clarksburg, Md., and Samantha Raebel, 36, of Phoenix are being held without bond in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility until the time of their trial.
Statements from Montgomery County police show the two women were arrested June 10 in Genoa, Ohio, after fleeing from the scene of the murder in Silver Spring. Police statements and court records show they were extradited back to Maryland in July, where prosecutors with the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office obtained indictments against them for murder.
Earlier statements from Montgomery County police say their investigation into the murder led to their decision to initially charge the two women with first-degree murder for the death of Hilde Henderson, 67, who was Tjongarero-Henderson’s mother.
“Through the course of the investigation, detectives identified Henderson’s daughter, Vanessa Tjongarero-Henderson, and Vanessa’s girlfriend, Raebel, as the suspects,” one of the police statements says. It says police obtained arrest warrants for both women and launched a nationwide search seeking help from the public in in locating them.
One of the police statements says an autopsy determined the cause of Hilde Henderson’s death was blunt-force trauma injuries brought about by a murder. Police and the State’s Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, have yet to disclose whether they have determined a motive for the murder.
Court records show that prior to the start of the April 19, 2027, trial a “motion” hearing was scheduled for Oct. 30, 2026, a pre-trail conference was scheduled for Feb. 12, 2027, and another motion hearing and a status hearing were scheduled for March 12, 2027.
Court records also show that Tjongarero-Henderson is being represented by attorneys with the Montgomery County court system’s public defender service. The records show that Raebel initially had been represented by a public defender service attorney, but updated records show Aug. 14 is listed as the “removal date” for that attorney.
The docket shows that on Aug. 20, two new attorneys with the prominent D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling made their official appearance as her attorneys in the murder case. One of them, Daniel Solomon, told the Washington Blade in response to an inquiry that the defense has no comment at this time on the case.
He confirmed that Covington & Burling is representing Raebel on a no-cost, pro bono bass.
The office of the Montgomery County public defender service didn’t immediately respond to a phone message from the Blade asking for a comment on the Tjongarero-Henderson case.
Congress
Chris Van Hollen says the Democratic Party needs change. Is he the one to lead it?
Senator is backing anti-establishment Democrats across the country
By LEE O. SANDERLIN | The Democratic Party is having something of an identity crisis — losing to President Donald Trump twice in three elections will do that.
Should the party embrace anti-establishment figures who espouse progressive policy ideas like Medicare for all and rhetoric about unrigging the economy for the 1 percent? Or should Democrats try to appeal to moderates who want to return to semi-normalcy in a time of political upheaval?
Although he’s been in Congress since 2002, with key leadership roles throughout his tenure, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, 67, counts himself firmly in the anti-establishment camp.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Maryland
Anne Arundel schools updates gender identity regulation following Trump administration threats
District facing federal lawsuit, White House threats over guidelines
By JESSICA CALEFATI | Under pressure from the Trump-Vance administration, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Supt. Mark Bedell announced Wednesday the district had updated a regulation intended to protect transgender students’ right to be called by their chosen name.
The revised language makes clear that district rules on gender identity do not block parents’ rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as the federal government alleged last month, and that a student’s gender identity will not be treated as confidential medical information.
“No policy, guideline, or practice may limit or otherwise interfere with parental rights under FERPA,” Bedell wrote in a Wednesday letter to the community. “This includes any information maintained in education records that relates to gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, preferred name, or preferred pronouns.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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