April 22, 2011 | Volume IX Issue 24 the Senate for a Vote
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Gender Identity Bill Dies in Seven Minutes BY DANA LAROCCA HB235, the Gender Identity Anti-Dis- crimination Act was recommitted to the Judicial Proceedings Committee OUT on April 11. It never went to the floor of April 22, 2011 | Volume IX Issue 24 the Senate for a vote. The process began with its remov- al from the Rules Committee where it “No Retreat on Marriage” had been held for a week. It was re- leased on April 5 after pressure from Equality Maryland and other support- Del. Mary Washington reflects on her ers as well as the influence of its spon- sor Delegate Joselyn Pena-Melnyk. On Thursday, April 7, hearings first session in the House of Delegates were held before the Senate Judicial BY STEVE CHARING tant to them. Proceedings Committee. Each side Fresh from the recently completed 2011 Mary Washington, who is also Associ- was given forty-five minutes to pres- Maryland General Assembly, Delegate ate Director for the nonprofit Parks and Peo- ent its case. That time was extended Mary Washington is proud to show off her ple Foundation, was elected in November to slightly due to the volume of questions new district office on the corner of Barclay represent District 43 in the Maryland House by the senators. The primary speak- Ave. and 32nd St. across from the Waver- of Delegates. The district also includes the ers in favor of the bill were the spon- ly Farmers’ Market. The two-story building neighborhoods of Charles Village, Guilford, sor Delegate Pena-Melnyk and Attor- has been around for many decades and was Lauraville, Montebello, and Govans—all with ney Lisa Mottet from the National Gay even once a butcher shop. Washington ac- a significant number of LGBT people. and Lesbian Task Force. The testimo- knowledges there’s a lot of work to do to ren- In being elected as Delegate, Mary ny of the mothers of transgender chil- ovate the office, and she is excited to share Washington became only the second out dren added a personal dimension to the space with fellow Delegates Maggie Mc- lesbian African-American in the U.S. to the testimony of HB235 supporters. Intosh and Curt Anderson. serve in a state legislature and the first ever Ruth Jacobs from Citizens for a “Not only is this office in the heart of my in Maryland. She joins six other openly gay Responsible Government was ques- district, but it’s where two major areas of Bal- delegates and one senator in the legisla- tioned by Senator Zirkin regarding ro- timore meet,” she said in noting the excel- ture—one of the highest totals of LGBT rep- bocalls that his constituents had re- lent location. She hopes her constituents will resentatives in the country. ceived at 3:00 a.m. in opposition to come by to discuss issues that are impor- —continued on page 3 HB235. He questioned the legality of the calls. Ms. Jacobs testified that if the bill passed transgender employ- ees might sue their employers for using the wrong pronouns. Senator The Telling Project Raskin pushed her to give an example of where an employer had ever been Baltimore Veterans ‘Tell’ sued in this country or anywhere in the world for using the wrong pronoun. Stories of DADT and Combat She was unable to do so. Jenna Fischetti testifying as a It has been more than eight years since the transgender opponent of HB235 stat- United States began Operation Iraqi Free- ed that, “Not once, not once, in the his- dom. Thousands of military personnel now tory of transgender specific legislation have stories of deployments, often times has any state gone back and added multiple, after returning home. Often, how- public accommodations only once a ever, they don’t talk about what they went previous law existed.” through. The lack of public accommo- Writer Jonathan Wei is hoping to reveal dations protections was the central some of that experience through The Tell- theme of all four of the transgender ing Project, a unique stage production that panelists who opposed the bill. That is built from the ground up using local veter- notwithstanding, Ms. Fischetti’s state- ans to tell their stories, in their own words, to ment was factually misleading. Cal- friends and neighbors. Jonathan has teamed —continued on page 5 up with local producer and Veteran Artist The Telling Project: Baltimore features (top row, L to R): Meghan Walton, Patrick Young, —continued on page 9 Cate Conroy, Jeremy Johnson; (bottom, L to R): Erin Byers, Tracy Miller, Elijah Sacra A Blueprint for Achieving Marriage Equality in 2012 Part 2: Winning emanating from the National Organization and to help as volunteers. Co-Publishers for Marriage (NOM) and a bevy of religious It won’t be just a simple task of stuffing Jim Becker • Jim Williams [email protected] a Referendum organizations will be breathtaking. They envelopes. There will be a great need for Last issue I presented my ideas on how we will use money—lots of it—from outside of grass roots activism—the only way we can Executive Editor Jim Becker can be successful in achiev- Maryland to smear us as a win this fight. Door knocking, phone bank- [email protected] ing marriage equality next year. community. ing, lit drops, town hall meetings will be re- Managing Editor In Part 1, I offered a strategy Every stereotype, every quired—just like a political campaign be- OUT Steve Charing to help win over persuadable Spoken exaggeration, every unveri- cause that’s exactly what it is. [email protected] legislators to pass the bill and fied claim, and every scare Equality Maryland deserves the right to Production Director send it to the Governor’s desk. tactic will be thrown into the lead the effort. They should not go at alone Bill Andriette If you were unable to read that barrage of commercials, ro- but they should be the lead. If other orga- Sales Director segment, please visit www.bal- bocalls and mailings to sway nizations and entities try to compete for the Mary Taylor timoreoutloud.com and click on otherwise fair-minded citi- spotlight and trample all over each other, the [email protected] Viewpoints and then Outspo- zens of the state that we are effort will fail just like in California. Leather Columnist ken. In Part 2 below I will dis- immoral, filthy slime who will Equality Maryland will, however, have Rodney Burger cuss the referendum possibility. teach kids to be gay and ruin a lot of work to do. And they need to start Contributing Writers We are a long way off from society. planning for a referendum battle NOW—not Josh Aterovis • Shawn Bradley • Terrence Brower • Jeffrey a referendum—both in terms of Even if you don’t contem- wait until the bill is signed into law. Fund- Clagett • Jeffrey Clouser • Chuck Duncan • Deborah Draisin • Gerry Fisher • Eva Hersh MD • Marty Hoegg • Sam Kunz • Dana time and also in what needs to plate marriage, every one of raising strategies, town hall meetings in as LaRocca • Jessica Lemmo • Jay Loane • Meredith Moise • Vann be accomplished before that Steve Charing these lies and attacks are di- many districts as possible, setting up an in- Mills • Bill Palmer • David Placher • Sandy Rawls • Colin Riley • eventuality. Of course, if the rected to you as well. You frastructure for phone banking, designing fli- Gregg Shapiro • Larry Walker Civil Marriage Protection Act have to consider: do you like ers and mailers and other necessities must Graphics is not signed into law, there will be no refer- being relegated to second-class citizenship begin right away. Joe Velasquez endum. There is no guarantee that it will be status and stomped on? If so, then you prob- Equality Maryland is a small organiza- Cartoonist brought up again, and there is no guarantee ably won’t be interested in reading on. tion with a handful of staff and volunteers. It Bruce Garrett (www.brucegarrett.com) we hold onto existing support or change the But if you do have dignity, pride and a needs to beef up its donor base and attract Photographers minds of a few. feeling of self-worth and would be personal- even more volunteers. Bruce Garrett • Jay W. • Justin Nixon And also keep in mind that at no time in ly offended by the absurd characterizations The organization will have to seek na- Web Editor our history has marriage equality been won that will befall us, then you are in this with tional partners and build coalitions with pro- Anja Saine at the ballot box, no matter how blue or pro- the thousands of Maryland gay and lesbi- gressive organizations like labor unions, [email protected] gressive a state may be. We are, in terms an couples who would be denied marriage particularly government unions who have Managed Web Services The Fusio Group of numbers, a small minority, nationally and rights should a referendum to overturn the money and people. They should also enlist 866-322-7498, www.thefusiogroup.com in Maryland. Even with family members, co- law establishing marriage equality is suc- the help of supportive elected officials to ex- National Advertising Rep workers, neighbors, friends and other al- cessful. For every insult hurled at us, you ecute a grass roots effort district by district. Rivendell Media lies supporting our cause, we are greatly should and must take them personally and It would be great if the GLCCB steps up 908-232-2021 outnumbered. react accordingly. and partners with Equality Maryland to offer Founders Moreover, the opposition who is invari- We need everyone in the LGBT commu- space for phone banking and provide oth- Jim Becker • Joe Berg • Mike Chase • ably well-funded, well-organized, and well- nity to help combat the lies.