As of October 1st, Maryland citizens are one step closer to equality. Governor O’Malley had
signed the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014 in May, and the law has come into effect as
of Wednesday, October 1st. This law is meant to protect the transgender community from
discrimination.

This is a monumental step for Maryland in equality for all citizens. Maryland is only one of 17
states and the District of Columbia to pass laws against discrimination based on an individual’s
gender identity. Additionally, this is the first state law to recognize gender expression as a facet
of someone’s identity that is worth protecting. Marriage equality was granted less than 2 years
ago, which led state legislation to strive for equality for LGBT Marylanders.

The new law will not affect Anne Arundel Community College’s policies directly. However, one
of our faculty members does believe that it will still have an impact.

“We have students on our campus who fall into this category, [the laws] are a good model. It
may take time for attitudes to change but people will be more accepting,” stated Professor
Suzanne Spoor, chair of the diversity subcommittee of AACC’s new theme, The Year of Social
Justice. Spoor believes that the legislative changes will benefit the classroom for all students,
not just LGBT students.

“[The law] allows us to have these conversations. The students are more interested on the
subject and the conversations are more rich because they see things are changing,” Said Spoor.

Wednesday, Oct. 8 marked the kickoff event of AACC’s second year of participating in National Coming out Day. Although the official day is Saturday Oct. 11, coordinators altered it to Wednesday so that all students could participate. Erin Davies, director and LGBTQ activist kicked off the event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Quad with her notorious car the Fagbug. At 3 p.m. Davies gave the opening presentation about her role as an activist and her experiences as well.

From Monday, Oct. 13 to Friday Oct. 17, AACC will be holding Coming out Week in various locations on campus. For more information, go to: http://www.aacc.edu/gss/comingoutweek.cfm.