Lesbian, gay, bi trans rights
Maryland win beats back bigots
By Andre Powell
Baltimore
By beating back a referendum challenge backed by bigotry and
big money, progressive activists have made Maryland the 12th
state to win passage of legal protection against anti-lesbian,
gay and bisexual discrimination.
The governor had signed legislation in May prohibiting
discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment,
housing and public accommodations. However, the bill did not go
into effect on Oct. 1, as it should have.
A right-wing group calling itself "Take Back Maryland"
claimed to have gathered more than 47,000 signatures to force a
repeal referendum on the bill.
As a result, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans activists
found themselves in the center of a referendum battle. With the
help of the American Civil Liberties Union, community leaders
filed a suit to invalidate the reactionary referendum.
The suit charged that the state Board of Elections
erroneously approved thousands of signatures that the
right-wingers did not legally obtain. Some of the violations
included purposely misleading signers to think they were
supporting gay rights. And certified petitioners did not
properly witness many of the signatures.
In other words, the bigots used lies and trickery to reach a
fake total.
With the activist spotlight on these wrongdoings, the courts
conceded that thousands of the signatures were invalid. The
"Take Back Maryland" bigots were forced to sign a court
stipulation and admit that they had not gathered enough
signatures to bring the matter to a referendum vote.
The law then went into effect at noon on Nov. 21.
Harvesting the sweet crop
of struggle
The victory for the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans
movement was the culmination of a 26-year-long battle to win
passage of an anti-discrimination bill. That struggle first
began in 1976 when the bill was up for a hearing.
Instead of allowing the hearing, House Judiciary Committee
Chair Joseph Owens threw out the bill, stating, "I won't
authorize legislation of queers in my committee."
The movement responded to his tirade by holding the first
rights demonstration ever held on the steps of the State House,
undaunted by freezing January weather.
In the ensuing years protesters returned again and again,
demanding lesbian and gay rights.
As a result of struggle, anti-discrimination legislation was
passed in four of the state's subdivisions: Howard, Montgomery,
Prince Georges and Baltimore City.
In 1988, activists formed the Free State Justice Campaign--a
grassroots lobbying group to fight for passage of the bill.
Their efforts paid off when they were able to convince Gov.
Parris Glendening to set up a statewide commission to hear
testimony from those who had suffered from anti-gay
discrimination.
The results were astounding. Many people boldly came forward
to testify about the injustices they had faced. Their courage
in speaking out made it impossible for the hardliners to argue
that there was no discrimination in the state.
The bill was finally passed by the conservative Senate
Judicial Proceedings Committee, which had killed it for many
years. As expected, it passed solidly through both chambers of
the General Assembly.
Upon passage of the progressive legislation, the right wing
reared its ugly head. The bigots claimed they were going to
collect enough signatures to force a recall referendum.
But bill defender Blake Humphries, the Free State Justice
Campaign chairperson, said at that time, "It is doubtful that
they will be able to collect the required amount in the short
time frame." His words proved to be true.
The fight is not yet completely over, however, because the
bill does not include protection for those in the transgender
community. Lesbian, gay, bi and trans leaders vow to continue
the fight to make the bill complete by ensuring that
transgender people have the same legal redress against
discrimination.
The movement has already won successful statewide battles to
eliminate laws that made private, consensual sexual behavior
between adults illegal. But reactionary laws cloaked as
"anti-solicitation" are still on the books.
Reprinted from the Dec. 6, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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