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Mont. Co. trans law could face public vote


Gay group challenging petition that would force referendum


by Joshua Lynsen
Friday, February 29, 2008

Equality Maryland is hastily scrutinizing thousands of signatures gathered to challenge a transgender rights law that's now in jeopardy.

Dan Furmansky, the organization's executive director, said an attorney and several volunteers were reviewing this week all 32,087 signatures given to Montgomery County officials to overturn the law.

He said Equality Maryland is making plans to "challenge what we believe are probably a high rate of signatures that aren't valid."

Reports of suspicious or incorrect signatures must be made by March 5. County officials, who received the final batch of signatures Feb. 19, must then determine whether enough signatures have been gathered to force a referendum.

Submitted by Citizens for a Responsible Government, the petition seeks a public vote on the law that prohibits "discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, cable television service and taxicab service on the basis of gender identity."

But gay rights activists and county officials said the organization advanced its cause under false pretenses.

Mike Knapp, president of Montgomery County Council, said opponents of the law wrongly represented it as allowing men into women's bathrooms and locker rooms.

"The misinformation being put out about this law really troubles me," he said. "We guaranteed that certain people in our county will have the same rights as other residents – and that is all we did. Those who intentionally mislead people about what this bill means will have to explain what is behind their actions, but we want everyone to know exactly what this law is about."

Knapp said the law allows the operators of public restrooms and locker rooms to continue to separate their facilities based on gender identity or biological gender. This allows a restaurant owner, for example, to require a biological male presenting as a female to use the men's restroom.

Theresa Rickman of Citizens for a Responsible Government said a strict reading of the law, however, indicates that a biological male presenting as a female could insist on using the women's bathroom.

She said the organization misrepresented nothing when it collected signatures and welcomes an open discussion with county officials.

"Name the time and the place and we'll be happy to debate the law," Rickman said. "We are happy to meet them anywhere and discuss it."

Furmansky said in collecting signatures, however, Citizens for a Responsible Government made "the law out to be something other than it is" and used scare tactics.

"As a seven-year resident of Montgomery County, it's disturbing to see a small group of truly hateful individuals gain traction through deliberate lies and misinformation," he said. "But Montgomery County is a fair-minded, open-minded, progressive place."

Council members unanimously passed the law in November, which was set to go into effect last week. It was suspended until signature verifications are completed and could remain on hold until a referendum is held.

Furmansky said Equality Maryland would fight to maintain the law if it went to referendum.

"Equality Maryland took the lead on passing this law and we're going to make sure this law is implemented," he said. "And that means if for some reason we're not successful with our legal challenge, we will mount an intelligent, education campaign to demystify this issue for those Montgomery County residents who are susceptible to the hysterical rhetoric."

Furmansky said such a campaign could cost anywhere from "tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars," but could be supported by groups outside Maryland.

"No doubt," he said, "if this goes to referendum, all of our national organizations will step up to the plate in assisting Equality Maryland, since this would be the first anti-discrimination transgender law to face a referendum."

Duchy Trachtenberg, who sponsored the measure, said the law would have a significant impact on transgender people living and working in Montgomery County.

"As the last few months have shown, transgender citizens can be the target of unpleasant invective and misguided fears," she said. "What this bill does is simply preserve the basic rights transgender people should enjoy along with everyone else – to live and work day to day with dignity, respect and equal protection under the law."