ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The transgender community is asking for better healthcare coverage when it comes to gender affirming care.
“We all deserve it, we all need it. We want to be loved, we want to be held, we want to go to get mental health services so we deserve it," said Tamar Jones with Safe Haven Baltimore.
Gender affirming care helps support transgender people in their transition, typically with physical features.
Types of care can be counseling, hair removal, speech therapy and surgeries.
Advocates say that many transgender people in Maryland choose to pay out of pocket for the gender affirming care.
“It’s just not sustainable and it keeps trans people in a state of poverty because we’re prioritizing getting healthcare over other basic needs like housing or food," said Jamie Grace Alexander the policy coordinator at Free State Justice.
Other states already do this, and Maryland lawmakers tried to get this bill passed last year, but it stalled in the house after being passed in the Senate.
This session, lawmakers say support is larger, and there’s a different person in the governor’s office.
“We didn’t have enough support last year and we didn’t have a governor who would sign the so this year we have more support and a broader coalition," said Delegate Anne Kaiser from Montgomery County.
Delegate Nick Allen is a co-sponsor of the bill and spoke with us about Maryland going a different direction than states that limit gender affirming care.
“When we see trans-rights attacked and rolled back across the country, it’s an opportunity for Maryland to say no we’re going to go a different direction and lead," said Delegate Nick Allen from Baltimore County.
The bill is sponsored by 70 Senators and Delegates.
The first hearing committee hearing happened today, the next is scheduled for February 28.
