Prisoners and inmates. Eastern Shore residents and transgender Latinas. Non-biological parents and same-sex couples seeking in vitro fertilization.
These are some of the groups within Maryland's broader lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community who will be getting a bit more attention in 2015 from the state's most prominent LGBT advocacy organizations, whose leaders say they are looking to build off several 2013 and 2014 successes to reach new pockets of the community in the new year.
"Even after the major legislative achievements of winning marriage equality and passing a transgender anti-discrimination law, there are still outstanding issues for the General Assembly to address and Equality Maryland will be there to help pass these bills," said the state's largest LGBT organization, in a recent statement on its 2015 goals.
"Just as important as legal equality is lived equality," the statement read. "There are too many LGBT people in Maryland whose lives are limited because of who they are."
The group said it will be establishing an "Advisory Council" of LGBT community members living on the Eastern Shore to "identify issues [and] devise solutions for this underserved LGBT community."
It is in the midst of a "needs assessment" for the Latina transgender community in the state looking at the "unique needs and issues" facing that group, and will be looking to replicate its work advising the Baltimore Police Department in other jurisdictions around the state.
The group also has plans to lobby for three specific bills this upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 14.
The first bill would allow transgender Marylanders to change the gender listed on their birth certificates "when it's right for them."
The second bill would ensure equal insurance coverage for "same-sex married couples in the area of in vitro fertilization."
The third bill would ensure "that when parents separate, the best interests of the children will be the criteria to determine a non-legal [de facto] parent's rights and responsibilities" -- essentially expanding a judge's discretion for granting a non-biological parent custody or visiting rights.
Free State Legal, a nonprofit in Baltimore that provides free legal advice to low-income LGBT residents, has its own priorities in mind for the new year.
Like Equality Maryland, the group will be fighting for improved fertility rights for same-sex couples, for better protections of the rights of non-biological parents, and for modernized state requirements for changing birth certificates to reflect residents' true gender identity.
The group will also be continuing its work in two areas where it saw success and increased awareness in 2014: Transition-related health insurance for transgender Marylanders and improvements for LGBT youth within the state's schools, foster system and juvenile justice system.
That work will include "establishing better institutional follow up mechanisms to address bullying, harassment, and discrimination against LGBTQ youth; and educating educators, care providers, other personnel, and youth themselves about best practices and legal rights of LGBTQ youth," said Jer Welter, the group's deputy director and managing attorney, in an email.
In addition, the group will be working in 2015 to improve "conditions of confinement for LGBTQ inmates and detainees in Maryland adult and juvenile correctional facilities," Welter said.
Free State Legal is also looking for a new executive director, another priority, Welter said.
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Baltimore, which survived a healthy dose of turmoil in 2014, enters 2015 with a new executive director of its own, a new chair of its board of directors and a new Baltimore Pride event chair.
The GLCCB has said it plans to redouble its efforts to reach marginalized communities, including the transgender community, and put Baltimore Pride -- the state's largest annual celebration of the LGBT community -- on sounder footing this year.
A bill that would have banned the practice failed last session, though advocates said they would be returning to the issue. A similar ban was passed by the D.C. Council in early December, putting Baltimore's southern neighbor in the company of California and New Jersey, where bans also exist.
Elsewhere in LGBT news:
- Same-sex couples are now getting married in Scotland.
- Here's the Advocate's round-up of the "Worst People of the Year."
Latest Features
- Following the reported suicide of a transgender teen in Ohio who pleaded in an online post for people to "Fix Society," transgender advocates and allies have taken to Twitter to support trans youth under the hashtag #RealLiveTransAdult.
