Dear Friends,

Late last week, leadership in the U.S. House abandoned a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) by splitting the legislation into two bills -- one for sexual orientation and another for gender identity and expression.

In an unprecedented show of unity, more than 90 leading national and state groups, including Equality Maryland, signed onto a letter in support of one inclusive ENDA. This letter was delivered to Congress yesterday. (To view the letter, click here.) As a result, Democratic leadership has postponed mark-up of the bill, giving our community a renewed opportunity to pass an inclusive ENDA. If you have not already done so, please urge your member of Congress to support only an inclusive ENDA. Click here to take action.

Equality Maryland will continue to work for and support only legislation that is explicitly inclusive of "gender identity" language to assure the protection of the full LGBT community. This is a core principle of our organization. There is no state law in Maryland protecting individuals from discrimination on the basis of gender identity, while discrimination based on sexual orientation has been covered under state law since 2001. Maryland's LGBT community knows firsthand the difficulties we face in "going back" for transgender anti-discrimination protections after passing a partial anti-discrimination bill. Since 2002, every state that has passed an anti-discrimination law has passed an inclusive law. Inclusive legislation is not just a moral imperative; it is politically wise.

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Equality Maryland is Maryland's largest LGBT civil rights organization, focused on making life better for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens of Maryland. Equality Maryland works to secure and protect the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Marylanders by promoting legislative initiatives on the state, county and municipal levels and educating the public about the issues faced by our diverse community.