Monday, February 4, 2013
Sens. Richard Madaleno and Jamie Raskin, both of Montgomery County, are co-sponsoring a bill that would prevent discrimination based on gender identity.
For the first time, a bill that would make it illegal for Maryland businesses, companies and housing providers to discriminate against transgender people has the support of Senate President Thomas V. Miller (D-Calvert and Prince George's Counties), creating hope in the state's transgender community. “The protections in this bill are long overdue,” Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie Evans told Washington Blade. “We are confident the General Assembly will demonstrate, as they did in 2012, that we are a state that treats all of its citizens with dignity and equality under the law.” (Evans refers to an act to legalize same-sex marriage in Maryland, which was signed into law in March 2012 and upheld by voters last November.) The bill, …
Friday, January 25, 2013
The rally comes before a march in Washington to call for stricter gun laws.
A group of gun control supporters will rally in Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring to call for stricter gun laws, an organizer of the rally confirmed to Patch. The rally will come before a march for gun control later in the day, which will be attended by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat representing parts of Silver Spring in the House of Representatives. The pre-march rally will begin at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26. State Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat who represents Silver Spring in the Maryland General Assembly, will speak at the rally on measures to reduce gun violence being proposed at the state level. Supporters at the rally will travel together to the march, which begins at the U.S. Capitol's reflecting pool at 10 a.m.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Spanking your kids is really just hitting the defenseless, anti-spanking advocates say.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Friday, January 11
State Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery) would like to see legal restrictions on the use of physical punishment against children in Maryland. So far, he has had little success. “It’s really entrenched in the culture. I do think we need a social movement against violence in the home," Raskin told The Washington Post in a report on a growing effort by legislators and activists to end the practice of spanking in the United States. It's a complex issue rooted in culture and an American aversion to "the nanny state." Read more about Raskin's role and the national effort in The Washington Post magazine's parenting edition online, and let us know in the comments section how you feel about parental spanking. Do you take the stance of, "I was …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Lawmakers from Baltimore City and Montgomery County call for stricter gun laws.
In the aftermath of the shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut last week, leaders from Baltimore City and Montgomery County are calling for stricter gun laws in the state of Maryland. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Sen. Brian Frosh and Sen. Jamie Raskin were among those who attended a press conference at the Episcopal Ecumenical Council Center in Baltimore on Wednesday to announce support for legislation aimed at curbing access to firearms. "[This] legislation is intended to address the epidemic of gun violence that has swept the country. The mass killings that we’ve experienced in theaters, in places of worship and most recently and most horribly in an elementary school," Frosh said. "We have a public health crisis that stems …
Monday, December 3, 2012
About 150 dancers celebrated the state senator's big day by breaking out in dance to "Do You Love Me," the Gazette reports.
Although the doo-wop song's famous refrain asks, "Do you love me/now that I can dance," State Sen. Jamie Raskin, who's birthday was celebrated with a flash mob to The Contours classic, still can't. "The big joke is that I can't dance," he told the Gazette newspaper after about 150 people gathered in downtown Silver Spring for a commemorative flash mob. Raskin, a Democrat who represents parts of Silver Spring in the Maryland General Assembly, worked with downtown Silver Spring-based Maryland Youth Ballet to cooridinate the event, which started with about half-a-dozen of the company's advanced dancers before many more eventually joined the routine. Watch the performance, captured on video by a YouTube user.
Friday, February 17, 2012
A bill to forbid roadside solicitation aims to get everyone--charity groups and panhandlers alike--out of the street, drawing the ire of county firefighters.
There’s a rumble in the streets of Montgomery County. A few state legislators, at least one council member and some residents are working to put restrictions on the use of the county’s curbs, medians and roadways, all the while facing opposition from county firefighters. Roadside solicitation, the act of asking for money on the side of the street, is the subject of two separate bills making their way through Montgomery County’s delegation in the Maryland General Assembly. Should either of the bills pass, they would authorize the County Council to create laws around the practice. “There’s a serious problem with people entering the roadway and interfering with traffic in order to solicit,” said Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Dist 20), who is …
Julie Smith
8:35 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Because dogs and cats aren't people as these are, and as such are as deserving of the same protections as everyone else. more ›