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Maryland Del. Kathy Szeliga (R) |
When is a public hearing not a public hearing? When the public is not allowed to testify at the hearing. That's going to be the case in Room 130 of the House Office Building in Annapolis on January 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM, when the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee holds a hearing on House Bill HB156, the Fairness in Girls' Sports Act. The hearing is one of several at which the committee has barred the public from being able to offer oral testimony. Only the sponsor of the bill, Del. Kathy Szeliga (R), will be allowed to testify during the hearing.
"I’m disappointed to inform you that the Committee has decided to NOT ALLOW oral testimony from citizens during the hearing," Szeliga wrote in an email to constituents yesterday. "This means I will be the sole voice presenting the overwhelming support this issue has garnered across Maryland. The positive response to my recent op-ed in The Baltimore Sun—spanning all demographics and party lines—demonstrates how much this common-sense legislation resonates with Marylanders."
If passed, HB156 would require "certain interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams or sports sponsored by certain schools to be expressly designated based on biological sex; prohibiting certain entities from taking certain adverse actions against a school for maintaining separate interscholastic and intramural junior varsity and varsity athletic teams and sports for students of the female sex; and providing that certain individuals have the right to bring a civil action under certain circumstances."
This proposal might delight or enrage you. Either way, your voice will not be heard during the hearing,
We've seen in recent years that, as more citizens become engaged on certain issues like zoning and school curriculums, governing bodies put greater and greater restrictions on speech and participation in public hearings. The Montgomery County Council began to place a limit on the number of citizens who could speak during public hearings, for example, when this was never done in the past. In contrast, public hearings before the Washington, D.C. City Council and some jurisdictions in Northern Virginia literally continue into the night, until every person who wished to speak has been heard. Across the country, citizens have been given less time to speak, and even face eviction or arrest if their 1st Amendment-protected speech triggers megalomaniacal elected officials.
Those who wish to submit written testimony on HB156 can still use these instructions, and register to submit their comments, or to simply check a box that indicates support or opposition. But as any experienced activist can tell you, there is no substitute for the power of - and greater public and media attention to - oral testimony at hearings. Which is why your elected officials are trying to silence your voice - literally.
Does this mean girls sports are going to be protected from transgender theory? If so,that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteGood Kathlee
ReplyDeleteThey have no right to silence the people. Time to drain the Annapolis Swamp.
ReplyDeleteWhere's the ACLU to stand up for free speech? Haha Maryland this is the legislature YOU elected. Voting blue has consequences.
ReplyDeleteTransgender do not belong in girls sports this stuff is ridiculous.
ReplyDelete