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On October 1, 2014 the Fairness for All Marylanders Act (“FAMA”) went into effect. FAMA, which was originally discussed in the JGL Law Blog post (Will Prince George’s County residents face less fairness if The Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014 (SB 212) becomes law? Possibly.) prohibits discrimination of Maryland employees on the basis of gender identity or transgender status. In passing FAMA, Maryland joined sixteen other states as the only states to cover sexual orientation and gender identity in employment anti-discrimination laws. While many state and local laws expressly protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) individuals from workplace harassment and discrimination, the majority of states do not, leaving many of those employees who wish to pursue claims of sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination to rely on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”).
