Law and Activism

The struggle for legal rights and protections in Montgomery County has paralleled efforts elsewhere in the country. Throughout most of American history, the law has generally worked against LGBTQ+ people. As Megan Springate writes in LGBTQ America, 

"The path has not been a smooth one; civil rights of gender and sexual minorities have been explicitly taken away through law and infringed without penalty by violence, including gay bashing and murder, and exclusion from housing, employment, and public accommodation" (p.18-3).  

From Maryland's colonial beginnings until as late as 1990, same-sex sexual relations were punishable by law, and in 1973 Maryland became the first state to explicitly ban marriage between individuals of the same sex. The absence of legal protections also had a negative effect, as LGBTQ+ people had limited ability to combat acts of discrimination and violence against them. During the mid-twentieth century, the tide slowly began to turn as LGBTQ+ organizations like the Suburban Maryland Lesbian/Gay Alliance (SMLGA) and the Montgomery County Gay and Lesbian Interests Consortium (GLIC) formed and laid the groundwork for future political movements. 

In Montgomery County, a milestone in LGBTQ+ rights was achieved in 1984 with the passage of an anti-discrimination bill establishing sexual orientation as a protected status. In 1999, Montgomery County established a domestic partnership registry and extended employment benefits to the same-sex partners of county employees. In 2004, Takoma Park became the first municipality in the state to endorse same-sex marriage. These achievements would not have been possible without years of advocacy and education work by LGBTQ+ community organizations and their allies.