On Feb. 21, the Baltimore County Council passed Bill 3-12, which prohibits discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment, financing, education and public accommodations.

The legislation comes almost one year after transgender woman Chrissy Polis was assaulted in a Rosedale McDonald’s bathroom, for which some members of Towson University’s Queer Student Union attended a rally in her support in April.

Senior criminal justice and psychology major Adrienne Luciano said she was surprised the bill was given the amount of attention is was with the pending same-sex marriage legislation in the Maryland Senate.

“People didn’t really even know about this bill. A lot of mainstream LGB [lesbian, gay and bisexual] people said, ‘We’ll worry about the anti-discrimination bill later,’ when a lot of people’s fear was that people supporting the equal rights bill would … stop supporting [the anti-discrimination bill],” Luciana said. “The trans people would have nothing to do but be left in the dark.”

The bill was approved 5-2, with Councilman David Marks, who represents the Towson area, one of two votes against the measure.

Marks said he felt many of the protections in the bill were already written into law. For example, hate crime legislation addressed Polis’ attack.

He also didn’t want to pass the bills with the series of amendments the Council debated. One amendment would have explicitly exempted bathrooms, dressing rooms and lockers from equal protection. The law was left intentionally vague, stating protections do not apply to “distinctly private or personal” facilities.

“I certainly think there were very raw emotions on both sides,” Marks said. “It seemed like there was always another issue. So when I talk to people for this bill, I say, ‘You may not have my vote, but you’re going to get a bill passing that is a clean bill. And that’s what they wanted.”

Towson University continues to take steps toward non-discriminatory policies by following the recommendations of the campus climate work group of the diversity action committee, according to Debbie Seeberger, assistant to the president for diversity.

In early March, about 25 single-person restrooms on campus will be labeled gender-neutral.

“We wanted to foster a more welcoming and inclusive environment for all individuals on campus,” Seeberger said. “The University is looking at this overall with the goal of once we’ve been able to implement these recommendations, to be able to expand our non-discrimination policies to include gender identity and expression.”

The average person might not know that gender identity isn’t automatically protected under the law, Luciana said.

“I talk to a lot of people who say ‘You can be fired for being gender variant or transgender in Baltimore County? What?’ They didn’t know until now,” Luciana said. “It’s just frustrating when you’re marginalized in the LGBT community, especially heavy influence on the T, ignored or misrepresented or discriminated against.”