ACTION ALERT!

Calling all trans Marylanders who want to change our names, those of us who have changed our names, and those who support us! The Maryland Senate is currently deciding on SB 581. The companion bill HB 39 has passed the house as of 2/11/21.

Please email or call your State Senator to say you support SB 581, especially if they are on the Judicial Proceedings Committee.

What Does The Bill Do?

• Makes it easier for trans people to legally change our names

• Requires the judge for your name change case to allow you to skip publishing your name change in a newspaper when you request it

• Makes legal name change more affordable (publication costs range from $50-$200)

• Improves the speed of legal name change by removing the publication step (publication can add a few

• Modernizes the name change process (the publication requirement is 100 years old, and predates the social security administration)

• Does NOT change any current legal or criminal codes

What Steps Can I Take?

1. Find out who your State Senator is, go here.

2. Call or email the members of the Judicial Proceedings Committee in the State Senate: Chair Will Smith, Co-Chair Jeff Waldstreicher, sponsor of SB0581 Senator Shelly Hettleman, Senator Jill P. Carter, Senator Michael A. Jackson, Senator Susan C. Lee, Senator Charles E. Sydnor, III, Senator Chris West, Senator Michael J. Hough, Senator Robert Cassilly, and Senator Jack Bailey.

3. In your call or email, share that you Support SB 581 and ask them for their Support for SB 581. Sample email/script below:

   “Hello Senator [SENATOR’S NAME],

   I am writing/calling you today to share that I support SB 581 and the ability of trans folks to change our names without publishing in the newspaper. I would like to ask for you to provide a favorable report for SB 581.

   Thank you!

   {YOUR NAME}

4. Ask at least 3 friends living in Maryland to also call/email their State Senators!

ACTION ALERT!

Thank you everyone for emailing or calling your State Senator to say you support SB 581, especially if they are on the Judicial Proceedings Committee. After you do so, please tweet that you’ve done so to encourage others to join in! Tag us @TransMaryland

ACTION ALERT!

Name Change Waiver of Publication Bill - Maryland House Committee Hearing on Friday 2/26/21 at 10am.

What Does This Bill Do?

Under current law, when filing for a legal name change in Maryland, an individual is required to pay to publish a notice of name change in their local newspaper. A motion can be filed to waive the publication requirement, and could be granted by a judge. Publication adds weeks, sometimes months, to the process and can cost up to an additional $250. Publication is also a violation of a person's privacy. The publication can linger on the Internet indefinitely and have adverse results. Some have resulted in workplace discrimination and even violence, in the cases of trans people and survivors of stalking or domestic violence. Motions to waive the the publication requirement are not granted in several counties in the state. Currently, a judge may deny any motion and require publication.

SB 581, however, would modernize the process, and require courts to waive the publication requirement when requested by the petitioner, thereby protecting the privacy of those changing their names. As a result, this will make the name change process quicker and more affordable. This will reduce one of the barriers trans people and others face while trying to live our most authentic lives.

Email or call your Senator to express your support for the bill today or tomorrow, ESPECIALLY if they are on the Judicial Proceedings Committee. If your Senator is NOT on the Judicial Proceedings Committee, you 1) can email the Chair Smith, Co-Chair Waldstreicher, and sponsor of SB0581 Senator Shelly Hettleman a letter of support or 2) can submit a letter of support or put in a brief phone call in support of the bill at any time. To find out who your Senator is, go here. If the "Lookup" function isn't enabled yet, click on the maroon button above the map, and enter in your address or an approximate one if you are without a permanent address.

NOTE: This bill does benefit the transgender community, but it also benefits trans and cis people who are domestic violence, stalking, and/or sexual assault survivors, minors who need a name change for ANY reason, adults who are estranged from the families that raised them, and ex-spouses who do not need/want their spouse to learn their new name through publication. It does not effect any legal or criminal code already in place.

Thank you to Ezra Towne for providing the links to the legislators and typing up this content.

Trans Maryland Launches T4T Support Group

Trans Maryland (formerly Trans Healthcare MD) is proud to announce the formal launch of our weekly support groups. 

T4T (Trans for Trans) is an online space for peer-to-peer support weekly on Wednesdays from 6:30p-8p. These groups are for trans Marylanders 18+. Trans means that the gender assignment when you were born is no longer accurate for you. Nonbinary and agender folks are warmly welcome in this space. These groups will take place online using the Zoom platform (free). 

To join the groups, trans Marylanders should complete the intake form below. Individuals will receive an email on Tuesday evening with a link to the group. Entries received after Tuesday 4pm will not receive a link till the following week due to capacity. 

Intake form link: 

https://transmaryland.org/t4t-intake

Schedule: 

1. Welcome with Breathing & Grounding - if needed

2. Introductions & Check-Ins

3. Connection 

4. Requests for Resources 

5. Close Out & Send Off 

Name changes for transgender (nonbinary or binary) Marylanders

Trans Marylanders, we're launching our name change service officially. By trans folks, for trans folks. Before COVID-19, we were hosting name change clinics. Now we're taking the program digital. We know that having an accurate ID is essential to accessing: housing, employment, and feeling confident. We also know that according to the US Trans Survey's Maryland report, 69% of trans Marylanders don't have an accurate ID. Let's get the process started together!

ACTION ALERT!

Name Change Waiver of Publication Bill - Maryland House Committee Hearing on Tuesday February 5

What Does This Bill Do?

Under current law, when filing for a legal name change in Maryland, an individual is required to pay to publish a notice of name change in their local newspaper. A petition can be filed to waive the publication requirement, and could be granted by a judge. Publication adds weeks, sometimes months, to the process and can cost up to an additional $250. Publication is also a violation of a person's privacy. The publication can linger on the Internet indefinitely and have adverse results. Some have resulted in workplace discrimination and even violence, in the cases of trans people and survivors of stalking or domestic violence. The process of petitioning to waive the the publication requirement still is not granted in most areas of the state. A judge may deny any petition and require publication.

HB 427, however, would require courts to waive the publication requirement, thereby protecting the privacy of those changing their names. As a result, this will make the name change process quicker and more affordable. This will reduce one of the barriers transgender people and others face while trying to live their most authentic life. 

What Can I Do Right Now?

1. Submit written testimony for the hearing on Wednesday. The more testimony we can get in support of this bill, the better. These are the rules for witnesses and testimony before the House Judiciary committee. In order to avoid needing to be in Annapolis the morning of the hearing, please email your testimony to Del. Emily Shetty's office (emily.shetty@house.state.md.us) and we will make sure your testimony is filed correctly. Please make sure to get your testimony to her office by Tuesday February 4 at 2pm so we can have it ready for the hearing on February 5. 


When preparing your testimony, always make sure to include the bill number (HB 427) and a clear statement of your position (Support). It is impactful to write about your own experiences and how this legislation will make a difference for people like you and those in your community. If you are able, sharing your personal experience of the difficulties you or those you know have faced under the current law will help legislators understand the need for change. 

2. If one of your Maryland Delegates is on the House Judiciary Committee, please contact them and ask them to support HB 427! Be sure to emphasize the importance of supporting the bill as written without additional amendments that could weaken the bill or exclude vulnerable groups from its protections. If you know supportive friends or family members who have a delegate on the committee, ask them to contact their representative as well!


When speaking with or writing to your legislators, feel free to also ask for their support for HB 488 (ban of the trans, gay, or bi panic defense) and HB 81 (repeal of Maryland's outdated and discriminatory sodomy law) which are both also being heard by the Judiciary Committee. HB 488 will come up for a hearing on February 11, while HB 81 has already had a hearing and will soon be come up for a committee vote.


Members of the Judiciary Committee:


Baltimore City
Clippinger, Luke (Chair) - District 46

Conaway, Frank M., Jr.  - District 40


Baltimore County
Arikan, Lauren - District 7 (Baltimore and Harford Counties)
Cardin, Jon S. - District 11
Grammer, Robin L., Jr. - District 6


Montgomery County
Crutchfield, Charlotte - District 19
Lopez, Lesley J. - District 39

Moon, David  - District 20
Shetty, Emily (Primary Sponsor)  - District 18


Prince George's County
Fisher, Wanika - District 47B
Lewis, Jazz - District 24

Watson, Ron - District 23B
Williams, Nicole A. - District 22


Elsewhere In Maryland
Atterbeary, Vanessa E. (Vice Chair) - District 13 (Howard County)
Bartlett, J. Sandy - District 32 (Anne Arundel County)
Cox, Daniel L. - District 4 (Frederick and Carroll Counties)
Davis, Debra - District 28 (Charles County)
Griffith, Mike - District 35B (Cecil and Harford Counties)
Malone, Michael E. - District 33 (Anne Arundel County)

McComas, Susan K. - District 34B (Harford County)
Pippy, Jesse T. - District 4 (Frederick and Carroll Counties)


Thank you everyone! We appreciate each and every one of you. A special shout out to Cass for typing up this information. 

Team Trans Healthcare MD

Trans health advocates must talk back to medical decision makers

By Suzi Chase

Suzi Chase is a teacher, writer, and trans activist. She is a nonbinary trans woman who lives in Howard County, MD.

I came across a social media post that resurrected a paper published in 2015 by 21 transgender health specialists around the world. The topic was the two referral letters from mental health professionals that most standards of care call for as a prerequisite to certain types of gender confirming surgery.

It was detailed and involved, but amounted to a piece-by-piece take down of the 2-letter requirement. It’s a long read, written in a scientific format precisely because it’s designed to appeal to the scientists who originated, support, and perpetuate the requirement. Among the points it makes are:

• The most oft-stated rationales for the requirement -- that the surgeries are irreversible, remove healthy tissue, and threaten fertility -- are not applied to other similar surgeries that are not typically performed on trans people.

• There is little objective evidence that the requirement addresses the concerns for which it was put in place.

• Requiring trans people to undertake this step but not other populations undergoing surgeries of similar irreversibility amounts to a paternalistic attitude that trans people are not capable of informed decision making.

It is especially timely because the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is currently crafting the newest version of its Standards of Care (SOC). For the unfamiliar, the WPATH SOC have become the most widely used and followed set of guidelines for making medical decisions related to transition care. They represent the current knowledge of best practice for transgender care as agreed upon by the medical community. These guidelines are important. Without them, doctors and other providers would be blundering about in the dark, unsure of what constitutes affirming care.

WPATH works hard to keep their recommendations current. This would be the eighth version of that document since WPATH was founded as the Harry Benjamin Society during the 1970s, and the first major revision since 2012.

“We have no say and little visibility into the formation of policies that direct our medical care.”

The current standards of care represent a vast improvement on what came before, and go a long way to remove harmful (and possibly deadly) obstacles to care inherent when practitioners devise their own arbitrary standards. However, they are widely considered due for their periodic update. 

Waiting for the new SOC feels eerily like having my parents discuss whether I’m old enough, mature enough, and trustworthy enough to give me the allowance I’ve been asking for.

That comparison is especially appropriate. In many ways, the medical community’s current system of gatekeeping still treats us like children. We are assumed not to know our own gender unless mental health professionals agree. Many see that as a type of oppression -- that cisgender people are entitled to be whole in a body that affirms their gender whereas we need to prove ourselves. All this shouldn’t be surprising. Health professionals typically do not have equitable treatment of trans people as a large part of their agenda. They are out to improve clinical outcomes, which the WPATH SOC, by normalizing transgender care largely do. However, the experiences of patients, while not completely off their radar, are a secondary goal at best. To expect them to do otherwise would be optimistic.  Their SOC provide vital standardization of the process, and without them our care would be byzantine, but they are developed by practitioners of medicine, not trans advocates.

That’s part of the problem. We have no say and little visibility into the formation of policies that direct our medical care. Yes, there are a growing few trans people sprinkled amongst the largely cisgender assemblage of decision-making health professionals, but it’s not clear that any of them see their role as being a representative for the rest of us. When is the last time anyone asked you whether our modern guidelines work for your needs?

I’m very fond of the expression, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

“In many ways, the medical community’s system of gatekeeping still treats us like children.”

That’s why organizations like Trans Healthcare Maryland, that advocate for the needs and experiences of trans healthcare consumers, are critically important. We need groups whose role is to call out professionals when the policies policies they draw up don’t go far enough to enable the agency and body autonomy of trans people.

That’s a big reason why I’m so honored to accept the invitation of Trans Healthcare Maryland’s leadership to write articles to help keep trans Marylanders informed and advance fresh perspectives and ideas. I’m looking forward to providing innovative and original viewpoints for the community.

Thank you for the opportunity.

THMD October Updates: MTRC and JCTB

Our deepest thanks to everyone who helped make the first Maryland Trans Resilience Conference a success! MTRC, the first trans-led, trans-focused conference in our state, was held for the first time on September 21st, 2019 in Baltimore.

A collaboration between Trans Healthcare MD, the Baltimore Transgender Alliance, CLEAR Baltimore, and trans leaders around the state, the conference created a trans-affirming space for folks to come together for panels, workshops, healing, and more.

The conference's inaugural year saw profound, powerful discussions, community connections, and so much joy. We know the many who attended will carry the experience with them.

Trans Healthcare MD led a coalition of organizations and individuals that worked to pass SB196/HB421, a Maryland bill that added a third gender marker to MVA issued IDs and removed administrative hurdles for those of us changing gender markers.

Starting October 1st, when the bill took effect, Maryland joined over a dozen states and DC in offering an “X” gender marker! In addition, we’re now able to change gender markers by just checking a box!

Trans Youth Advocates DMV Launch

Trans Healthcare MD (THMD) and DCATS have launched Trans Youth Advocates DMV, an annual program for trans people to develop their skills in a collaborative, intentional space, alongside other local trans youth leaders. With a focus on trans resilience and liberation, this program will bring together a cohort of 20 trans, nonbinary, and gender expansive people from the District of Columbia, Maryland and Northern Virginia.

THMD and DCATS featured in Washington Post

A March 17th Washington Post article on healthcare access for trans folks in our region featured Jamison Crowell from the DC Area Transmasculine Society (DCATS) and Lee Blinder from Trans Healthcare MD

Lee spoke on THMD’s efforts to expand access to competent, affirming care, which include advocating for expansion of services at Planned Parenthood to cover hormone replacement therapy. They also discussed the need for current and future providers to adopt an informed consent model, which removes the need to seek a letter or letters of approval from medical providers before starting HRT.

“People can get stuck in the system for a long time,” Blinder said. “Many people don’t end up getting a letter at all. The provider will make up excuses as to why they’re not ready.”

We’re excited to see awareness of our communities’ needs increase and look forward to more coverage of this crucial topic in the future.

#TransThriving at USG

Please join us March 28 for #TransThriving, part of the Universities at Shady Grove's Civic Engagement Series.

Two members of our Core Team will be on the panel; Lily Amara Pastor as a panelist, and Lee Blinder will be moderating the discussion.