LGBTQ+ Caucus targets legislative priorities for the rest of the 2026 session

by William J. Ford, Maryland Matters
March 5, 2026

With slightly more than a month left in the 2026 General Assembly session, the Maryland Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus laid out its priorities Thursday and assessed its progress on bills, some of which it conceded remain a heavy lift.

The bills come as the caucus enters its second year of the Trump administration, which has targeted transgender rights since the day President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term in office.

That was a motivating factor for at least one of the bills, the  Birth Certificate Modernization Act, which would created a new category of “X” on birth certificates, to recognize individuals who are transgender or nonbinary.

The sponsors, Sen. Clarence Lam (D-Howard and Montgomery) and Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s), first presented the bills last year, in response to a Trump executive order, signed his first day back in office, that called on “the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”

“The [state] legislation modernizes for Maryland the process of updating birth certificates and provides clear, respectful and consistent procedures,” Martinez, a member of the caucus’s executive board, said Thursday.

“It also ensures that Maryland’s system recognize the diversity of gender identity, including options that reflect people who are nonbinary. The gender spectrum is much larger than just male and female and so ensuring that we reflect that in our statute is really important,” he said.

Senate Bill 626, sponsored by Lam,  (D-Anne Arundel and Howard), was heard by the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 25. The House version remains stuck in the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee.

Del. Kris Fair (D-Frederick), who chairs the caucus, acknowledged that the Birth Certificate Modernization Act sponsored by Lam and Martinez represents one of the most challenging measures to receive legislative approval.

Another measure that Fair said could be a “challenging lift” is House Bill 627 sponsored by Del. Gabriel Acevero (D-Montgomery). The bill, which was heard last month by the Ways and Means Committee, would create a Commission on History, Culture, and Civics in Education to examine historical contributions made by individuals not only from the LGBTQ+ community, but also Black, Latino, Native Americans, among others.

The commission would make recommendations to the state Department of Education and state Board of Education “to further the discovery, interpretation and learning of the history, culture and civics of the United States and Maryland.”

Fair said the legislature understands local autonomy of the state’s school districts, but “we have to be doing the right thing by teaching that curriculum in a uniform way across the state.”

One measure scheduled to be heard Tuesday is Senate Bill 950 sponsored by Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D-Montgomery) that seeks to allow person “to file a health care malpractice action” against a mental health or child care practitioner, or other provider who conducts conversion therapy. Maryland became the 11th in the nation in 2018 to outlaw the practice, which seeks to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation, based on legislation sponsored by former Sen. Rich Madaleno Jr., who is currently chief administration officer in Montgomery County.

Under current law, a civil action must be filed within three years from the date conversion therapy may have occurred. According to the bill’s fiscal note, “the statute of limitations for a minor’s personal injury claim is generally tolled until the minor reaches age 18.”

But the bill notes a person can file civil action “at any time” against a provider if conversion therapy was done if that person was a minor. A complaint could be filed within 20 years if the therapy occurred when that person was an adult.

The House version sponsored by Del. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery), one of the founders of the caucus, was heard Wednesday before the Judiciary Committee.

“Conversion therapy infuriates me. It says to someone that you’re wrong, you’re a bad person, you’re flawed. We need to fix you,” said Kagan, one of the dozens of caucus allies in the legislature. “It’s time to update and strengthen that law… This [federal] administration has it out for the LGBTQ community. I don’t know what bee is in their bonnet, but in Maryland, we respect the community. We are inclusive.”

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