Transgender

Two weeks removed from graduation at this university, you apply for an apartment near Baltimore. You’re rejected.

The justification? Not poor credit history or employment prospects, not mistakes in the application or a missed security deposit. You’re rejected because of the gender with which you identify. The landlord’s decision is fully protected under this state’s laws, and you’re stuck with no place to live.

For almost one in five transgender residents of this state, that is the perverse reality of living in a state not protected by anti-discrimination laws. Seventeen percent of transgender residents in this state reported being denied housing because of their identities in a National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

But the General Assembly seems poised to change that. After the state Senate voted 32-15 to pass the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014 last Tuesday, transgender individuals could soon receive legal protection in housing, employment and public accommodations after a vote in the House of Delegates.

There is no reason this shouldn’t happen. Prominent politicians, including Gov. Martin O’Malley and the top three Democratic candidates vying to replace him, have backed the bill.

And as illustrated in the 2012 statewide referendum that passed same-sex marriage, residents are pushing progress and equality as well.

If policymakers in Annapolis and presidential hopeful O’Malley want to continue their self-congratulatory claims of this state’s commitment to equality, this law needs to be enacted. As with similar common-sense reforms recently enacted in the state, FAMA faces vocal opposition with incendiary arguments — unfortunately spearheaded in the House by obstructionist Del. Neil Parrott (R-Washington).

Parrott created MDPetitions.com, which has helped put same-sex marriage to referendum and attempted to block recent gun control measures, among other reforms.

In a petition Parrott created, he said FAMA would “put our families and children at risk,” echoing the paranoid and absurd argument that fighting transgender discrimination is a free pass for sex offenders in public places.

He and other opponents have flippantly dubbed FAMA the “bathroom bill.”

“The problem is you send your daughter into the bathroom, and you expect it’s going to be girls and women in the bathroom,” Parrott told The Washington Post. “And instead you find out there’s a 45-year-old man in the bathroom with them.”

Beneath the hateful, irresponsible and small-minded insinuation that nontraditional gender identity is connected to sex offense — one that deserves no place in public discourse — Parrott accidentally stumbled upon some truth.

Administrative and logistical accommodations for the transgender population, such as gender-neutral restrooms and housing, will not be easy. Our culture and public places are structured largely on a strict dichotomy between men and women. But the presence of a variety of small groups with the power to help get rid of this dichotomy will hopefully help the state take a step in the right direction. For example, this university’s Department of Resident Life has made gender-neutral housing available to students who want it on the campus. This simple change speaks volumes to how highly the university values students’ comforts, regardless of gender identity.

Making the proper changes to ensure feelings of security for transgender individuals might result in steep financial costs and stubborn resistance from some in the state.

But in our society’s continuing endeavor to eliminate discrimination, “not easy” is not an acceptable excuse. It was not easy to desegregate schools in the 1950s and ’60s or end slavery a century earlier, nor was it easy to pass same-sex marriage in this state two years ago.

To this day, it is not easy to fight the de facto segregation that marginalizes so many minorities — both racial and gender.

Fully eliminating discrimination of transgender people and the rest of the LGBT community in this state won’t be easy, and this bill is merely a stepping stone toward a greater end.

But that’s no reason not to try.