Transgender Bill May Be Close to Passing

Maryanne Arnow of Germantown, a transgender woman, says she's had a hard time finding restaurant work since she started her transition four years ago. (By Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)

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"By seeking to provide clarification, we created confusion and uncertainty," said Leventhal, chairman of the health committee. "People do not need to be told by the government where and how they may use the bathroom."

Ruth M. Jacobs, a Rockville physician who works with Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, said the group would continue to oppose the bill because it protects what the American Psychiatric Association considers a mental illness. She would like to see exemptions for hiring by religious institutions, including religious schools.

"We really haven't had a discussion of the effect on schools" or hiring transgender teachers, she said. "Nobody has shown that it is safe for young children's gender identity for Mark to become Mary."

Jamison, a lawyer, said yesterday that by taking out the language, the council has made the legislation even more open to interpretation.

In his 31 years with the county's Office of Human Rights, Michael Dennis, the organization's compliance director, can recall only two or three cases in which residents complained of suffering discrimination because of their gender identity. But Dennis said adding gender identity as a protected class in the county's human rights statute would clear up any ambiguity.

Maryanne Arnow, a transgender woman from Germantown, said she has had trouble finding work in restaurants in the county since she began her transition four years ago and has mostly worked as a high-end personal chef and event planner. She said she hopes the county's legislation will make prospective employers think twice.

"There are many people who still have a lot of fear about dealing with this situation and limited understanding," she said. "One can only hope that, in the back of somebody's mind, they may consider being more careful and consider giving somebody a chance."

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