May 26, 2015

Early next month, new protections for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community will become law in Maryland without Governor Larry Hogan's signature. 

Federation member Equality Maryland's work in the state was imperative to the passing of two pro-LGBT bills in the House and Senate this legislative session.

The first bill (SB 416) will ensure equal insurance coverage for same-sex married couples in the areas of in-vitro fertilization and artificial insemination. Currently, the law's requirements stated one of the conditions for coverage to apply was use of your husband's sperm. This clearly prevented a lesbian from gaining coverage.

The second bill (SB 743) will allow transgender Marylanders to request a new birth certificate with an updated gender marker when their health care provider attests the appropriate treatment has occurred. This will remove the current law requirement of a court order (which requires a statement from a healthcare professional that surgery has occurred) to update one's gender marker on their birth certificate. 

Both bills were approved by wide margins in the House and Senate earlier this year, and have been awaiting action by Gov. Hogan. The Governor has until June 3 to either sign or veto the measures before they become law by default, but his office says he has decided to do nothing, allowing the measures to take effect.

Equality Maryland executive director Carrie Evans had this to say about the Governor's decision:

“We’re really happy. These are bills that we worked very hard on, and they had bipartisan support in the General Assembly.”

Maryland's LGBT protections are some of the strongest in the country, and it is thanks to the hard work of advocates in the state, like Equality Maryland, who make equality and protections like these for the LGBT community their priority. Thank you for all your great work and congratulations!