The nation’s leading anti-sexual assault and domestic violence organizations are among the 250 groups issuing the statement. The statement was initiated by the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women.
The Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence (MNADV) has united with over 250 organizations to publicly oppose discriminatory initiatives that restrict access to public restrooms and other gender-specific facilities for transgender people and call for laws and policies that protect them from any discrimination they face during the routine course of their daily lives. Local Maryland programs that signed on include HopeWorks of Howard County and the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA), which are domestic violence service providers that collaborate with MNADV.
While those who favor anti-transgender legislation cite the need to protect the public’s safety and prevent sexual violence against women and children, sexual assault and domestic violence programs say the claims are flawed and based on myth.
Furthermore, over 200 municipalities and 18 states have nondiscrimination laws protecting transgender people’s access to facilities that align with the gender with which they identify. In addition to keeping transgender people from harm’s way, none of those jurisdictions have seen a rise in sexual violence or other public safety issues due to nondiscrimination laws.
Those who signed the landmark statement assert, “We cannot stand by while the needs of survivors, both those who are transgender and those who are not, are obscured in order to push a political agenda that does nothing to serve and protect victims and potential victims. We will only accomplish our goal of ending sexual violence by treating all people, including those who are transgender, with fairness and respect.”