By Nathan Carrick

Staff Writer

Council member Duchy Trachtenberg said the threats and death threats she received during the past three months because of a bill ensuring the civil rights of transgender individuals have stopped since she made them public over a week ago, but police are still investigating.

Trachtenberg claims she received between 35 and 40 threats at her home and office. The threats come in the wake of the County Council's unanimous passage of bill 23-07, the Gender Identity bill, in November. The bill ensures that transgender individuals are not discriminated against in the workplace or in housing.

Michelle Turner, a spokesperson for CRG, said her group doesn't encourage or support sending threats.

But the bill has generated plenty of controversy. An opposition group, Citizens for a Responsible Government, submitted a petition with about 30,000 signatures in favor of putting the bill up for a referendum vote this November. Maryland's largest gay rights group, Equality Maryland, subsequently filed a lawsuit questioning the Board of Election's validation of the petition.

CRG claims the bill would allow pedophiles and peeping toms into women's locker rooms and bathrooms. Council members maintain, however, that there is no language in the bill having to do with bathrooms or changing rooms. Some of the threats were signed, some were left anonymous and others were signed with obviously fake names, Trachtenberg said. Sharon Kass sent letters to Trachtenberg and Dr. Dana Beyer, a senior policy analyst on the councilwoman's staff, Trachtenberg said.

When asked for comment, Kass responded by sending e-mails with anti-gay literature to The Sentinel. One contained a pamphlet titled, "You Don't Have to Be Gay!: Real Answers to Questions about Homosexuality," and an article titled, "The Desire for a Sex Change: Psychiatrist says sex-change surgery is a collaboration with a mental disorder, not a treatment."

Kass then sent another e-mail to The Sentinel in response to last week's front-page article about Trachtenberg receiving death threats. "The ex-gay movement will prevail. We have the facts," Kass said. "Superficial and biased reporting is routine in the press. You and your profession will be called to account."

Turner said that Kass is a supporter of CRG and not a full member, as Trachtenberg suggested. Theresa Rickman, CRG's director, was out of the country and could not be reached for comment.

Trachtenberg said that police are still investigating the matter so she didn't want to comment further on what legal actions might be taken. However she did say several restraining orders could result from the ordeal.

During CRG's signature gathering process, allegations of intimidation surfaced on both sides of the petition. Members of CRG claimed Beyer and other individuals harassed some people at petition sites, and those opposed to the petition claim the signature collectors misrepresented it.

Equality Maryland's lawsuit against the Montgomery County Board of Elections alleges that many of the signatures the panel validated were gathered improperly, and the board didn't fully investigate this possibility. At least one person in the suit is involved because they say the petition was misrepresented to them.

Montgomery County Council President Mike Knapp got into a dispute with a signature gatherer in February at a polling place during the Maryland Primary. He said the petition gatherer was misinformed about what the bill did.

Bill 23-07 was scheduled to go into effect last month, but has been put on hold until the referendum vote in November, or until Equality Maryland's lawsuit overturns the petition.

"If the referendum question does make it to the ballot in November," Trachtenberg said, "I'm confident Montgomery County will vote against discrimination."