(Annapolis, Maryland) The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, will decide whether an effort to repeal an ordinance that bans trans discrimination in Montgomery County will be put to voters in November.

Last year, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed legislation adding gender identity as a protected characteristic under the county’s civil rights law in order to address discrimination against transgender individuals. 

A group calling itself Citizens for Responsible Government immediately began collecting signatures to block the law from going into effect. The group submitted its signatures and the county said sufficient names were collected to put the issue on the ballot in November. 

Lambda Legal, together with Equality Maryland, is representing a group of Montgomery County registered voters who oppose the referendum effort and went to court to fight it.

In court papers, Lambda Legal argued that the Montgomery County Board of Elections used the wrong formula to determine the required number of signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot. 

Lambda argued and the court agreed that the calculation was incorrectly derived from five percent of only “active” voters, when state law requires counting all registered voters—resulting in a shortfall of hundreds of signatures. 

Last month, a lower court ruled that the referendum should be allowed on the ballot this fall. The court said that even though the group pressing for the repeal had not gathered sufficient signatures the legal challenge came too late.

The appeal argues that the lower court judge erred in determining the statue of limitations for filing the case.

Supporters of the amendment say the ruling was correct and voters should be allowed to decide the fate of the ordinance.