The first panel to testify included Gender Rights Maryland Executive Director Dr. Dana Beyer, Pediatric Endocronoogist Dr. Elyse Pine of the Chase-Brexton Clinic in Baltimore, and Free State Justice Attorney Laura DePalma Several Republican members of the Committee asked a number of questions, which demonstrated either hostility to, or lack of information about, transgender and gender non-binary people. I choose to believe that they just did not have enough information. The answers provided by Dr. Beyer, Dr. Pine, and Ms. DiPalma turned the lengthy discussion into an excellent seminar of what we have learned, and what the science has taught us, about gender identity -- a Guide for the Perplexed in the 21st Century. I look forward to the discussion being posted on the Maryland General Assembly website.
UPDATE: The video of the hearing may be found here. Dana Beyer's testimony begins at 9:10, Elyse Pine's at 12:15, Sean Mullen's (Delegate Robinson's legislative aide) at 15:00, and Laura DePalma's at 18:52. The 45 minute question and answer period begins at 22:29. (For anyone interested in my testimony -- i.e., some relatives who are not tired of my voice -- it begins at 1:12.)
LATER UPDATE: I wrote a letter to the Washington Times in response to its article about the hearing. The letter was published, and may be found here.
(Below is the text of my testimony, followed by the written submission from Rabbi Rachel Ackerman on behalf of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism [LATER UPDATE: and the letter published in the Washington Times].
TESTIMONY OF DAVID S. FISHBACK, MD ADVOCACY CHAIRMETRO DC CHAPTER OF PFLAG,IN SUPPORT OF HOUSE BILL 13BEFORE THE MARYLAND HOUSE OF DELEGATES’ ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEEFEBRUARY 8, 2018My name is David Fishback, and I am testifying on behalf of the Metro DC Chapter of PFLAG, an organization that supports LGBTQ people and their families. Exactly a decade ago, I accompanied my wife to Annapolis, when she testified on behalf of Civil Marriage Equality. A few years later, in 2012, the General Assembly enacted marriage equality, and now both of our sons are happily married and we have two adorable grandchildren.When our sons came out in the late 1990s, we did not know transgender or gender non-binary people. Indeed, we probably were not even aware of their existence. But, as PFLAG parents, we have met, and become friends with, many transgender and gender non-binary people. We have also learned about the challenges they face in simply being who they are. We are proud that you and other officials in Maryland have acted to ease their burdens. The 2014 enactment of the Fairness for All Marylanders Act protected people against discrimination based on gender identity and expression. In 2015, our state Department of Education issued guidelines helping local school systems protect students based on gender identity and expression; and local school systems, like that of Montgomery County, have enacted clear mandatory rules protecting students.HB 13[1] is another step in helping our fellow Marylanders who happen to be transgender or gender non-binary. By providing an “unspecified” option on drivers licenses and related documents, HB 13 allows gender non-binary people to have their documents accurately reflect who they are. And by not requiring transgender and non-binary Marylanders to go through hoops in order to have their gender identities accurately reflected on these documents, we take another step to make their lives easier. And we would do this at no real cost to anyone else.In times when the national discourse on so many things is fraught with division and acrimony, we should seize the opportunity to take steps to make life kinder and gentler. This is such an opportunity.Thank you.
********************************************************************************************************************************
Rabbi Rachel Ackerman, Rabbi at Temple Shalom
in Chevy Chase, MD and Co-Chair of Religious
Action Center’s Transgender Rights Campaign
Testimony in support of House Bill 13
Before the
Maryland House of Delegates Environment and
Transportation Committee
February 8, 2018
My name is Rabbi Rachel Ackerman and I am the Associate Rabbi of Temple Shalom in Chevy
Chase, Maryland. I am testifying in support of House Bill 13 on behalf of the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism’s (RAC) Urgency of Now Transgender Rights Campaign. The RAC is a
joint instrumentality of the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest stream of American Judaism
which encompasses 900 congregations and 1.5 million people across North America, and the
Central Conference of American Rabbis, which includes 2,000 rabbis. There are 19 Reform
congregations across the state of Maryland.
The Union for Reform Judaism came together in November 2015 to unanimously ratify a
Resolution on the Rights of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People.1
In passing this
resolution, we made a commitment to live by one of Judaism’s bedrock principles: b’tzelem
Elohim, the belief that all people are created in the image of God and are therefore deserving of
love and respect. We are now acting swiftly on this commitment, making our congregations,
camps and religious schools more inclusive and through the advocacy of our Transgender Rights
Campaign.
Personally, this issue is one that I have studied and taught about over the past few years during
my time as a student at the Hebrew Union College, in my congregation and in the wider Reform
Movement. I have several students who have come through Temple Shalom’s religious school
who are gender diverse or who are transgender and I have been witness to their successes and
struggles, struggles that they should not have to encounter for expressing on the outside who
they have always been on the inside. It is their courage and what they have taught me that
inspires me to be here today. In a class discussion I led about expressing ourselves at our public
schools, one of my seventh grade students said, “My teacher taught me that students have
three rights in school: to learn, to be safe, and to feel safe.”
This student’s words apply in all aspects of our lives. I am proud to work in Maryland where our
Department of Education and individual school districts, like Montgomery County Public
Schools, have sent a clear message to Marylanders who are transgender: we see you, we value
you, and we will stand up for your rights. We believe that HB 132
is another opportunity to send
that same message. By providing Marylanders an “unspecified” option on identification
documents we will allow transgender and gender diverse individuals the opportunity to more
accurately express who they are and we will make Maryland a safer, more inclusive place for
everyone. I urge the House of Delegates to move quickly to pass this important bill.
2 http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=hb0013&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2018rs
***********************************************************
Hearing on gender informative
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES -
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Other than
to report a he-said-she-said exchange between one legislator and one witness,
your Feb. 9 article on a hearing in the Maryland General Assembly (“Maryland
explores ‘unspecified’ gender option for driver’s license applications,”
Web) raised but did not really discuss a matter very important to many
Marylanders. The hearing delved deeply into gender-related issues, and a video
of it is posted on the Maryland.gov website. The testimony, which begins at the
9:10 mark, is followed by 45 minutes of informative give-and-take between the first
three witnesses (two of whom are medical doctors) and several Republican
legislators.
The hearing
turned out to be an excellent seminar in what we have learned and what the
science has taught us about gender identity — a sort of guide for the perplexed
in the 21st century. Those interested in these issues would be well-served by
listening to the discussion.
DAVID S. FISHBACK
Maryland advocacy chair
Metro DC Chapter, PFLAG
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