NAACP head gives keynote at LGBT conference - baltimoresun.com: NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said Thursday the civil rights group supports legislation in Maryland to extend rights to transgender residents.
Jealous spoke at a national conference on rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, the 24th national conference on LGBT equality.
"This striving for inclusion is not new," Jealous told a crowded convention room at the Baltimore Hilton.
Under Jealous, the Baltimore-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People launched an equality task force for the LGBT community. The Maryland measure would extend rights relating to employment and housing to transgender residents.
Last year, legislation that would have protected transgender people from housing and employment discrimination passed the House of Delegates, but the bill failed to pass the Senate.
About a week after the legislative session adjourned in April, an attack on 22-year-old transgender woman at a McDonald's restaurant in Rosedale highlighted the issue again.
