As the national climate concerning transgender rights harshens, Maryland finds itself in a position to become a sanctuary for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
At a Pride month reception held at the governor’s mansion on June 5, Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order to protect gender-affirming health care in Maryland and those who seek it out from facing legal repercussions in other states. This was the latest act by the state’s government, which has ramped up protections for the LGBTQ+ community this year.
Beginning in 2024, Maryland Medicaid will be required to cover gender-affirming health care services, including hormone therapy, puberty blockers, voice alterations and surgeries, because of the Trans Health Equity Act, recently passed by the General Assembly. Medicaid will be unable to limit or deny health coverage that is prescribed because of a person’s gender identity or exclude treatment because it is deemed a cosmetic procedure.
“We’re really grateful that Maryland is positioning itself as sort of a bright spot,” said Margo Quinlan, an organizer with the Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition.
This was the second year that the Trans Health Equity Act came before the General Assembly. The bill passed out of the Senate, but stalled when it reached the House chamber last year.
Something about this year was different.
“First and foremost it was organizing,” Quinlan said during a phone interview. “The Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition has been organizing around this for years now.”
It found success by having others rally around the legislation, including parents, doctors, the bill’s sponsors and the members of the General Assembly’s LGBTQ caucus, she explained.
“I think the other big thing for us was having Wes Moore in the governor’s office,” Quinlan said. “I mean, he let us in the governor’s mansion. None of us had ever been there before, so that was really different.”
Moore, a Democrat, outwardly supported the Trans Health Equity Act, pledging to sign it before the end of his first legislative session earlier this year.
And he continues to put the weight and power of his office behind the transgender community.
In a statement, Moore said he intends to have Maryland be a leader for the rights of trans people.
“In the state of Maryland, nobody should have to justify their own humanity,” he said. “This (executive) order is focused on ensuring Maryland is a safe place for gender-affirming care, especially as other states take misguided and hateful steps to make gender-affirming care cause for legal retribution.”
While she called Moore’s executive order a “big step” and a “loud and clear message,” Quinlan said there is more to be done.
Earlier this year, Moore also signed legislation to protect abortion providers and their patients who travel from out of state to receive care. The same protection isn’t necessarily available to patients who travel from other states to receive gender-affirming care which, unlike abortion access, is typically long-term.
“Trans care, for most of us, is ongoing,” Quinlan said.
She said there is talk of hopefully codifying Moore’s executive order during the 2024 session, which could make Maryland a safe haven destination and a new home for transgender people who can’t access gender-affirming care.
While Maryland seeks to expand the rights of trans people, the national landscape for members of the LGBTQ+ community grows grim.
The American Civil Liberties Union is tracking 491 bills introduced among the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico designated as “anti-LGBTQ” in 2023. According to the ACLU’s tracker, 74% of bills the organization is following are from only 17 states, including Maryland’s neighbors Virginia and West Virginia.
During the 90-day legislative session, Maryland only considered one.
Sponsored by Del. Kathy Szeliga, a Republican representing Baltimore County, the legislation introduced would have prohibited children who identify as transgender from participating in public or private school sports unless they are playing on a team that corresponds to the gender they were assigned at birth.
The bill did not make it to the House floor for a vote.
Szeliga sponsored a similar bill during the 2022 legislative session, which met the same fate. This, again, was the only Maryland bill that was tracked by ACLU as “anti-LGBTQ” that year.
That same session, Szeliga also attempted to amend legislation prohibiting public and private schools from discriminating against students and their guardians based on their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, religion and other immutable traits to include provisions in a Florida bill barring teachers from discussing gender and sexuality in the classroom.
Her amendment was rejected.
Although the rights of the LGBTQ+ community have continued to grow highly politicized, Quinlan stressed that “this isn’t about politics.”
“This medicine is lifesaving for us,” she said. “I have kids. I don’t know if I would be here if I didn’t have access to the health care I have.”
