(Annapolis, Maryland) The Maryland Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled Tuesday in favor of a challenge to a referendum that attempted to block a unanimously-enacted transgender protection law.

“We’re pleased with this victory. The court ruled in our favor in our challenge to this improper referendum,” said Lambda Legal attorney Natalie Chin. “Though the order was brief, we feel confident that we’ve stopped this referendum from being on November’s ballot.”

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 county said sufficient names were collected to put the issue on the ballot in November. 

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

Lambda argued in lower court 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 said 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 the 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 argued that the lower court judge erred in determining the statue of limitations for filing the case.

“This long overdue, crucial law is all about assuring that unchecked bias is not allowed to inhibit our neighbors’ abilities to make a living or rent a home, and as a Montgomery County resident, I breathe a sigh of relief that this campaign to roll back anti-discrimination protections is now over,” said Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland.

“While we were ready to make our case to the voters of Montgomery County, it is far better that our transgender brothers and sisters be spared the rhetoric that the referendum proponents have subjected them to over the past year.”