Time for 'Chrissy's Law'Baltimore Sun Editorial, January 20, 2014
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-ed-transgender-20140120,0,5631562.storyA 2009 survey found 18 percent of transgender Marylanders had lost a job because of gender identity, and 42 percent had suffered some adverse job action over it. More than half reported being harassed in public accommodations like restaurants, movie theaters and stores. Seventeen percent said they've been denied an apartment or home because they are transgender.
This is not how a civil society should treat people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned by genetics. The circumstances of such individuals can vary widely, but regardless, they ought to be given the rights afforded everyone else — to be judged in the workplace by their qualifications, abilities and performance in their chosen field, for instance — and not by gender distinction.
Like the issue of same-sex marriage, this is not a matter of special rights given an individual or group but one of resisting discrimination. It is unconscionable that doctors can deny treatment to someone based on gender identity or that a landlord could refuse to rent an apartment to, or a department store decline to admit, that same person. But without an anti-discrimination law, such individuals have no choice but to suffer intolerance and bias.
