Distinguished Service Award to Free State Justice

Presented by GLAA President Bob Summersgill

GLAA 31st Anniversary Reception
Hotel Washington
Thursday, April 18, 2002

I am pleased to be able to present the next award. Free State Justice, like GLAA is a non-partisan, political activist and lobbying group. We are both members of the Federation of Statewide GLBT Advocacy Organizations and have similar goals and objectives. Maryland and DC also share the metropolitan area and all of the benefits and problems that come with it. DC was carved out of Maryland and we inherited all of their laws in 1801. Fortunately, GLAA has fixed most of the laws since then.

Other than a lack of micro-management by the US Congress, Free State Justice has a much tougher time than we do in DC. Where we have a unicameral legislature with just 13 councilmembers to lobby; Free State must contend with 47 Senators and 141 Delegates.

If Free State Justice, had 54% of their legislators buy tickets and show up at their events as we do tonight, they would have just over 100, more than the total number of people in this room. Imagine their shock if 100% of the Republican elected officials turned out! If they had the same percentage of openly gay legislators as we do in DC, Maryland would have 29, enough to field a football team, baseball team and basketball team, with four left over for bridge.

GLAA doesn't have to go further than across town for meetings or to lobby. Free State Justice has to bring people together from the Eastern Shore, to beyond Cumberland. Despite their disadvantages, Free State Justice is starting to catch up to GLAA. In the past year they have succeeded in having Maryland become the twelfth state to add sexual orientation to their human rights law. This is a major and very important victory that has positive repercussions across the country. This victory is already being used as a lobbying point in Delaware where activists are urging lawmakers to keep up with their neighbors. In getting this law passed, Free State Justice successfully fought off a ballot initiative to overturn the new law. This is rare indeed. And this law brings Maryland almost up to where DC was in 1973.

I'm proud to say that I had a small hand in Free State Justice's victory. In the early 90's I was part of the rag-tag little group called the Free State Justice Campaign. We met in Columbia, MD as it was equally inconvenient for both the suburban DC area people as it was for the people in Baltimore. No one from the Eastern Shore, Southern or Western Maryland ever attended to the best of my recollection. We had minor successes, but mostly failures. I recall one activist declaring "I don't want to have to be here in ten years trying to get this bill passed!" Fortunately, it passed in just nine. Unfortunately, no one from that year is left to remember my small contribution, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Since those days, Free State Justice set up an office; hired staff; assembled an impressive array of professional lobbyists to work on their bills; put together an active coalition of supporters and organizations; and built an active, statewide grassroots network of people willing to talk to their legislators, call and write letters. Perhaps most critically, they secured the strong support of Governor Glendening. Without his efforts, we probably would not be celebrating this success.

Free State Justice is not resting on their laurels, although they have a busy schedule of accepting awards. Don't miss the Front Runners award banquet on April 27 at the Washington Plaza Hotel. Among Free State Justice's continuing goals are the repeal of their unconstitutional sodomy laws; protections under the Maryland Hate Crimes Law; inclusion of transgender people in Maryland's human rights law; protection of students in the schools; and securing legal rights for same-sex couples.

In honor of all of their good work, and in particular for the passage of the anti-Discrimination Act of 2001, It is my honor to present GLAA's Distinguished Service Award to the Free State Justice.