Demonstrates danger of transgender special interest bill being debated today in Maryland Senate Committee

Contact: Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government, 301-335-6042

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 7, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Montgomery County, Maryland Ethics Commission has rejected the testimony of two Marylanders for not addressing a transgender woman with feminine pronouns.

In dismissing a complaint brought by Maryland Citizens for a Responsible Government (MCRG) against Dana Beyer, a former man known as Wayne Beyer, the Commission deemed the testimony of MCRG's witnesses to be biased and not credible because they did not use preferred pronouns as determined by the Commission.

"The Commission refused to consider our evidence," said Dr. Ruth Jacobs, President of MCRG. "Instead, they focused on our witnesses' use of pronouns."

MCRG had filed the ethics complaint against Beyer, the special assistant for former Montgomery County Councilmember Duchy Trachtenberg, who had sponsored the County's transgender bill. In its complaint, MCRG submitted evidence of Beyer's harassment against Marylanders who were trying to collect signatures on a petition to place the County's controversial gender identity bill on a referendum so Marylanders could vote on the subject matter. Trachtenberg was the only County Councilmember not re-elected last November.

Because of the harassment by Beyer and other Equality Maryland members, the bill became law despite the request for a referendum by Montgomery County residents who wanted to vote on the proposed law. The "gender identity" law was used by Beyer in a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the County. Beyer has been quoted as stating, "I helped craft the bill, and I'm the first person to use it...That's a delicious irony." (Gazette, Nov. 18, 2009)

"The free speech rights of Marylanders are being infringed," said Jacobs. "The County Council must rescind this controversial 'gender identity' law and prevent Montgomery County taxpayers from facing millions of dollars in lawsuits."

"We urge the Maryland Senate to vote against the statewide transgender bill now before it. As shown in Montgomery County, these dangerous gender identity bills harm Marylanders and infringe on our Constitutional rights as Americans."

MCRG has requested that the Ethics Commission reconsider its dismissal of their complaint. The request for reconsideration can be viewed at
maryland4marriage.com/files/12/MCRGReconsiderationDoc.pdf 
and the complaint is at www.notmyshower.com/Complaint100708.pdf.