Anti-Bias Law Wins In Md.'s High Court

County election officials certified the effort and scheduled the referendum. Supporters of the law, however, challenged the certification, arguing that the county had miscalculated the number of signatures required to force the issue to a referendum.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert A. Greenberg rejected the bid to block the ballot initiative, saying the challenge had merit but had not been filed during a10-day window provided by election law.

The challenge was filed March 14, 22 days after elections officials validated the first of two batches of petition signatures. But that was only eight days after final certification of the referendum, and that, Bell asserted in court Monday, is what should have started the clock ticking on the 10-day deadline.

Until the opinion is issued, however, it is impossible to know what the court's reasoning was.

Word of the court's decision spread quickly through the County Council building, where the measure had been introduced by County Council member Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At Large), who was inspired in part by her legislative aide, Dana Beyer, a transgender woman.

"Everybody deserves the right to a free life without discrimination," said Beyer, who was thrilled by the news and said she looked forward to expanding the protections to the state level.

The case had drawn national attention as both sides girded for a ballot fight, and advocates for the rights of transgender people applauded the Court of Appeals decision yesterday. "No one's civil rights should ever be put to a vote, and the court's decision gives meaning to that essential principle," Joe Solmonese, the president of Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.

Amy Smith, an attorney for Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal fund assisting opponents, called the decision "another example of an activist court hijacking democracy." She said her organization was waiting to review the court's full opinion before it determines whether to take further legal action.

"Hopefully, we can stop a political activist group from silencing the voice of an entire county," she said.