ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Senator Clarance Lam (D - Anne Arundel and Howard Counties) is one of the state leaders sponsoring a bill to legally define gender-affirming care.
“I think here in Maryland we certainly cherish our diversity and want to be an inclusive state and that’s why last year we passed laws into the books that helped ensure the gender-affirming care will be available to those patients who need it," says Senator Lam.
A new bill, cross-filed in the Senate and the House, would protect patients' medical records from being sent to other states or organizations that don’t support gender-affirming care.
“It’s a simple, technical fix that adds gender-affirming care alongside, reproductive health care, and really just means that this type of care which is life-saving care be protected in the state of Maryland," says Maya Holliday with the Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition.
It would also protect doctors who provide medical treatments from certain lawsuits or other legal action.
“Patients and providers and their physicians will be safeguarded to have private individual conversations and present the full options of gender, affirming care to them, without fear of being prosecuted or criminalized," says Senator Lam.
Conservative state leaders are concerned about the bills.
Delegate Kathy Szeliga (R- Baltimore County) says it is not safe to legally protect this type of care that young children can have access to.
“What we’re ending up with there are children that are medically castrated and sterilized and you know while we are trying to help them through some mental health issues that’s probably not the best way to do it. It’s not good for kids, and I don’t think Maryland should become a transgender tourism venue, especially as we look at what other countries are doing," says Delegate Szeliga.
The bill will be heard today during the Senate Finance Committee's 1 p.m. bill hearing.
