Gender Identity

In the Equality Act, 'gender identity' refers to an individual's personal and internal experience of their own gender. This includes the sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or somewhere else along the gender spectrum. The Act, particularly after its 2014/2015 amendments, explicitly prohibits discrimination based on gender identity, ensuring legal protection for transgender and other gender-diverse individuals.

Gender identity refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms. The Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act (Chapter 540 of the Laws of Malta) enshrines the right to gender identity, allowing individuals to determine their gender without medical gatekeeping.

As defined in § 20–101 of the State Government Article and incorporated into the Maryland Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, 'gender identity' means the gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of a person, regardless of the person's assigned sex at birth. This identity may be demonstrated by consistent and uniform assertion of the person's gender identity or any other evidence that the gender identity is sincerely held as part of the person's core identity. The Act explicitly prohibits discrimination in pay and employment opportunities based on an individual's gender identity, alongside sex.