Removing Public Accommodation From Maryland's Gender Identity Bill Didn't Stop "Bathroom Bill" Talk
by: Autumn Sandeen
Thu Mar 10, 2011 at 09:30:00 AM EST
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/18820/removing-public-accommodation-from-marylands-gender-identity-bill-didnt-stop-bathroom-bill-talkApparently, removing public accommodation language from the HB 235, the Human Relations - Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity - Antidiscrimination bill, didn't stave off the "bathroom bill" arguments by those who are against ordinary equality for transgender people.
From Metro Weekly's Discrimination Debate; Maryland House Committee Fields Testimony On Bill To Protect Transgender Community on March 9th's House Health and Government Operations Committee hearing on the bill (emphasis added):
...Similar legislation, which included protections for transgender people with regard to Maryland public accommodations, has failed in the past. Yet despite the current bill's exclusion of public accommodations, the opposition's arguments have changed little: Such nondiscrimination legislation would confuse children and enable male pedophiles and rapists by allowing them access to women's bathrooms.
