Category Archives: Martin O’Malley

Md. to end DP benefits for couples

Governor Martin O’Malley (Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)

Now that same-sex marriage is legal in Maryland, the state will no longer offer domestic partner benefits for its employees. According to the Baltimore Sun, the O’Malley administration notified employees in same-sex relationships that they would have to get married to receive health coverage. Fewer than 300 employees, including retirees, would be affected.

The state granted domestic partner benefits in 2009 because same-sex couples could not get married then. Same-sex marriage became legal on Jan. 1.

The news was met with some objection. “It’s really not the most equitable thing to be doing right now,” Carrie Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland told the Sun.

But O’Malley spokesperson Raquel Guillory noted that if two paths to benefits are offered to same-sex couples but only one to opposite-sex couples, the state could face lawsuits. The changes would go into effect next Jan. 1, but that is subject to change.

Mizeur comes in second in Md. gubernatorial straw poll

Heather Mizeur, Deborah Mizeur, Maryland, gay news, Washington Blade

Heather (right) and Deborah Mizeur at their Takoma Park home. Heather is contemplating a run for governor. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Maryland state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) on Saturday came in second place in a 2014 gubernatorial straw poll that took place during the Western Maryland Democratic Summit in Hagerstown.

The Washington Post reported the Takoma Park Democrat received 37 votes, compared to Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown who received 62 votes. Attorney General Doug Gansler came in third with 25 votes. Howard County Executive Ken Ulman received 17 votes, while Congressman C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger came in fifth with one vote.

Less than 150 people voted in the straw poll, but Mizeur told the Washington Blade on Monday she feels it is an indication of the support she said she continues to receive as she mulls a gubernatorial campaign.

“This strong, early show of support from western Marylanders re-affirms what I’ve heard across the state — we love Maryland and are proud to live here, and we want it to be even better,” she said.

Mizeur, who told the Blade in an exclusive interview last November she is “taking a very serious look at” running to succeed Gov. Martin O’Malley in 2014, reported in a campaign finance report she filed in January that she raised more than $248,000 for her potential gubernatorial campaign between Jan. 12, 2012, and Jan. 9 of this year. Brown reported he raised $1,247,811.80 in cash and in-kind contributions during the same period, while Gansler netted $1,236,284.96.

Ulman reported he raised $1,139,945.82.

“There’s a real desire for new vision and leadership, and that’s why I’m taking a look at the governor’s race,” Mizeur said.

Md. Senate committee kills transgender rights bill

Lisa Gladden, Maryland, gay news, Washington Blade

Maryland state Sen. Lisa Gladden (D-District 41) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A Maryland state Senate committee on Thursday struck down a bill that would have banned anti-transgender discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation.

The 6-5 vote in the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee came slightly more than two weeks after it held a hearing on Senate Bill 449 — the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2013 — that state Sens. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) and Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County) introduced.

Raskin along with state Sens. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery County,) Lisa Gladden (D-Baltimore City,) Jennie Forehand (D-Montgomery County) and Robert Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) voted for SB 449. Senators Norman Stone (D-Baltimore County,) C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s County,) Nancy Jacobs (R-Cecil and Harford Counties,) James Brochin (D-Baltimore County,) Christopher Shank (R-Washington County) and Joseph Getty (R-Baltimore and Carroll Counties) opposed it.

“Despite months of hard work by our broad coalition of supporters, key committee members were unwilling to advance the promise of equality under the law to the transgender community,” Madaleno said in an e-mail he sent to his constituents after the vote. “A majority of committee members were unwilling to pass a bill that prohibited discrimination by restaurants, theaters, hotels, shopping centers and other places of public accommodations. Their lack of understanding and empathy for their fellow Marylanders is appalling.”

Dana Beyer, executive director of Gender Rights Maryland, also expressed outrage.

“Bigotry won the day, and I say that because the sponsor bent over backward to assuage the concerns of his Democratic colleagues,” she told the Washington Blade. “None of it was good enough, nor did they then offer any solution themselves other than to strip out public accommodations protections entirely.”

“It is terribly disappointing the committee failed to stand up for fairness and protect transgender Marylanders,” Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie Evans added.

Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, and other SB 449 opponents testified against the measure during the Feb. 26 committee hearing.

“This bill will force the state and private actors — employers, landlords and others who provide public services — to officially and legally affirm the very delusion that puts these suffering individuals at odds with reality,” Sprigg said. “Not only will it not makes their lives better, but it will prevent them from getting the very help they do need to make their lives better.”

The state House of Delegates in 2011 passed a trans rights bill, but a similar measure died in a Senate committee last year.

Governor Martin O’Malley, who signed Baltimore City’s trans rights ordinance into law in 2002 when he was mayor, told the Washington Blade last month he was “absolutely” reaching out to state lawmakers to encourage them to support SB 449. State Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County) and other gay state lawmakers with whom the Blade spoke after the committee’s Feb. 26 hearing stressed the passage of last November’s referendum on the same-sex marriage law O’Malley signed had provided a foundation of support upon which they thought the measure could have passed.

Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller (D-Prince George’s and Calvert Counties) also backed SB 449.

“It is now 14 years since transgender protections were stripped from LGBT anti-discrimination legislation by the General Assembly,” Donna Cartwright of the Maryland Coalition for Trans Equality said. “It’s long past time for the legislature to take meaningful action to address the severe discrimination and disadvantage that trans people face.”

Baltimore County, of which Brochin represents portions in Annapolis, along with Montgomery and Howard Counties and Baltimore City have already adopted trans-inclusive non-discrimination laws.

“[Brochin] had at least 1,000 constituents contact him asking him to support this bill,” Evans said. “Despite this, he turned his back on these voters. It ironic that transgender people in his own district [Baltimore County] have protections yet he wouldn’t cast a vote to extend these protections to individuals in the 20 counties that aren’t so fortunate.”

Sixteen states and D.C. currently ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

Madaleno and other SB 449 supporters vow they will continue to fight to protect trans Marylanders from discrimination.

“This fight is not over, and together we continue undeterred on our path to full equality and freedom for all,” Madaleno said.

“Equality Maryland will come back every year until transgender Marylanders are afforded the right to be free from discrimination in their jobs, homes, and places of public accommodations,“ added Evans.

Mautner Project honors lesbian Md. lawmaker

Maggie McIntosh, Mautner Project, Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland House of Delegates, gay news, Washington Blade

Maryland state Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Mautner Project on Saturday honored Maryland state Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City) during its annual gala that took place at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Northwest D.C.

Deb Dubois, chair of the Mautner Project Board of Directors, applauded McIntosh for the role she played in the passage of last November’s referendum on Maryland’s same-sex marriage law — McIntosh announced the results at the downtown Baltimore restaurant where Gov. Martin O’Malley and other Question 6 supporters had gathered.

McIntosh specifically thanked the governor, state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County,) state Del. Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City,) the Human Rights Campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union and Marylanders who voted for the same-sex marriage referendum.

“On Jan. 1 we became the first state whose electorate added same-sex marriage as a right,” she said. “Now we are among nine states strong.”

McIntosh echoed Dubois who thanked lesbian state Dels. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City) and Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) who attended the event along with gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At-Large.) She also thanked her long-time partner Diane Stollenwerk, whom she recently married in a small Quaker ceremony in Baltimore.

“There are some people that think maybe Diane is the woman who has made me a better woman,” she said. “I agree.”

Founded in 1990, the Mautner Project provides an array of health care and other related services and advocacy to lesbian, bisexual and transgender women.

McIntosh noted during her acceptance speech that Stollenwerk went to the emergency room at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis last week — and hospital staff admitted her as her spouse to be “with her through every test and every decision and her discharge.”

“The life of same-sex couples is not simple and routine in 37 states,” she said. “These relationships are not equal.”

The Baltimore Democrat described the upcoming oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court on cases that challenge the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act as potentially “momentous.” McIntosh stressed access to health care remains a serious problem for many LGBT Americans.

She noted 30 states have yet to ban discrimination against gay men and lesbians in employment, public accommodations and access to health care facilities. McIntosh further pointed out 37 states do not have trans-specific legal protections in place.

“While we march towards marriage equality continues, we should not lose sight of the critical needs and access to health care within the LGBT community,” she said. “Let us also recognize the health disparities in our community and work to close those gaps. The positive and just normal life experience that Diane and I had this week in a hospital emergency room would not have happened in a majority of our states.”

The Mautner Project honored McIntosh ahead of an anticipated vote in the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on a bill that would ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing and public accommodation.

The House of Delegates in 2011 passed a trans rights bill, but a similar measure died in a Senate committee last year.

McIntosh told the Washington Blade last month she expects Senate Bill 449 will easily pass in the House.

She said she and other gay state lawmakers continue to work with Madaleno, who introduced the measure with state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County,) and Equality Maryland to ensure it garners additional support in the legislature.