(a) Legislative findings and statement of policy.
(1) The County has a goal to ensure that every resident can live without fear of discrimination based on sex—including on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. To achieve this goal the county will:
(A) protect LGBTQ community members from discrimination in all public facilities, including health and personal care facilities;
(B) ensure medical providers respect the gender identity and pronouns of all patients;
(C) strengthen access to care facilities for sexual minorities and all gender identities; and
(D) ensure that all public accommodations in Montgomery County adhere to non-discrimination laws.
(2) The County Council finds that ending and preventing harassment among LGBTQ individuals requires substantial coordination and cooperation among federal, state, and local governments, as well as private sector service providers and community organizations.
(b) Definitions. In this Section, the following terms have the meanings indicated.
Care facility or facility means a place of public accommodation that provides direct personal care or health care to individuals, such as a hospital, clinic, nursing home, domiciliary care home, or personal care home.
Harass includes requiring an individual to show identity documents to gain entrance to a restroom available to other individuals of the same gender identity.
(c) Discriminatory practices prohibited under Section 27-11 include when an owner, lessee, operator, manager, agent, or employee of any care facility in the County, based on an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status:
(1) denies admission to a facility, transfers or refuses to transfer the individual within a facility or to another facility, or discharges or evicts an individual from a facility;
(2) denies a request by individuals to share a room in a facility;
(3) if rooms are assigned by gender, assigns, reassigns, or refuses to assign a room to a transgender individual other than in accordance with the individual’s gender identity, unless at the individual’s request;
(4) prohibits an individual from using, or harasses an individual who seeks to use or does use, a restroom available to other individuals of the same gender identity, regardless of whether the individual is making a gender transition or appears to be gender-nonconforming;
(5) willfully and repeatedly uses an individual’s incorrect name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the correct name or pronouns;
(6) denies an individual the right to wear or be dressed in clothing, accessories, or cosmetics that are allowed for any other individual;
(7) restricts an individual’s right to associate with other individuals, including the right to consensual sexual relations, unless the restriction uniformly applies to all individuals in a nondiscriminatory manner;
(8) denies or restricts medical or nonmedical care; or
(9) provides medical or nonmedical care in a manner that, to a similarly situated reasonable individual, unduly demeans the individual’s dignity or causes avoidable discomfort.
(d) Notice requirements. A facility must post prominently, and must include with any materials that describe the facility’s nondiscrimination policies, a notice that:
(1) meets the requirements of subsection (e); and
(2) is in a form prescribed by the Director.
(e) The notice required under subsection (d) must include:
(1) a statement that the law prohibits discrimination, including bullying, abuse, or harassment, on the basis of:
(A) actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status; or
(B) an association with another individual on account of that individual’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status; and
(2) information about filing a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights. (2020 L.M.C., ch. 30, §1.)