The Baltimore County Council approved legislation which would extend existing anti-discrimination laws to cover both sexual orientation and gender identity. This victory is yet another in the state of Maryland for this week, which recently passed through legislature a marriage equality bill which the governor has already pledged to sign into law. Stories like these get me through the week.

**trigger warning after the jump**

I haven’t talked about myself much lately in Exploring Gender. I have been focusing on a lot of news and information. It’s so important to be aware of what is going on around us: laws, news about discrimination, the good things. The best way to be able to fight for equality is to have the knowledge and awareness of what’s going on in the world, but also to search for the good things and celebrate them so we know the fight isn’t fruitless. But this series is supposed to be about exploring gender, which also means looking into the personal, how gender and transitioning affects my life so others can know they are not alone, and also gain advice on how to navigate information and resources.