Maryland lawmakers launch drive to overturn transgender 'bathroom bill'

Two Maryland lawmakers are trying to overturn a recently passed transgender rights bill which they claim would allow men to walk freely into ladies' restrooms.

The lawmakers -- Republican state Delegates Neil Parrott and Kathy Szeliga -- backed a petition drive Tuesday by MDPetitions.com to get the issue put on the November ballot and let voters decide.

Szeliga said Wednesday she fully supports protecting the rights of transgender people, but the so-called “bathroom bill” could have been written in a better way to protect young girls and women.

“But it wasn’t,” she told FoxNews.com. “The expectation of women and men is to see people of the same gender in places like bathrooms and changing rooms. We wouldn’t be petitioning this bill if the [sponsors] had crafted it in a more thoughtful way.”

If signed, Maryland would join California in becoming the second state to have adopted such a law. The Maryland bill, officially known as the Fairness for All Marylanders Act of 2014, more broadly bans discrimination based on gender identity related to employment, housing and public accommodations.

It applies to accommodations in public and private places such as “hotels, restaurants, gas stations, movie theaters and sports arenas,” according to the bill, and would allow transgender people to use the bathroom corresponding with the gender they identify with. Critics argue this is written so loosely as to allow a man to waltz into a women's bathroom simply by claiming he's a woman -- or vice versa.

California also enacted legislation last summer that broadens its law by giving transgender students more flexibility in deciding which bathrooms, locker facilities and extra-curricular activities to choose.

Maryland Delegate Rich Madaleno, a Montgomery County Democrat, introduced the bill, which easily passed both chambers of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly. He ripped the new effort to unravel the legislation.

“I am extremely disappointed that a small group of conservative activists launched a misguided and deceptive petition drive against including anti-discrimination protections for transgender Marylanders and their families in our civil rights law,” Madaleno said a statement.

Parrot said Wednesday the bill is "clearly about private facilities being open to members of the opposite sex."

He also argued that 18 other states have a similar law, without the restroom part. And like Szeliga, he said critics of the bill offered numerous amendments to resolve the issue.

Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley has expressed support for the legislation and is expected to sign it in the coming weeks.

To get the bill to referendum, Parrot and Szeliga would need to get the signatures of the equivalent of 3 percent of voters in the last gubernatorial election, or 55,736 names. One-third of the signatures must be collected by the end of May. The remainder would be due June 30.

Daily must-read stories from the biggest name in politics

summary: Two Maryland lawmakers are trying to repeal a recently-passed General Assembly bill that further ensures transgender people’s access to public accommodations but also appears to allow men to use women’s restrooms and similar facilities.

Samsung Announces New ATIV PCs, Including a Windows-Android Hybrid

Samsung announced three new devices in its ATIV line of Windows PCs and tablets: the ATIV Tab 3, the "world's thinnest" Windows tablet; the ATIV Book 9 Plus, a laptop based on the Series 9 PC; and the ATIV Q, a hybrid tablet device that runs both Windows and Android.

The ATIV Q is a hybrid in more than one sense of the word. Not only does it run Windows 8 and Android side-by-side, it also acts as both a normal tablet and an Ultrabook. It has four different modes so it can act like a standard laptop with full keyboard access, a standard tablet, a raised tablet or a standing tablet mode.

It weighs just 2.8lbs and has a 13.3-inch screen running at a phenomenal 3200x1800 resolution. Samsung says its optimized to run in a variety of environments, including outdoors.

Users can transfer files and share folders between the Windows 8 and Android 4.2.2 modes, making for a more seamless experience than other hybrid approaches.

The ATIV Q works with Samsung's S Pen in both Windows and Android apps.

It runs Intel's new Haswell CPU and Samsung says it will offer up to 9 hours of battery life. It has 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD and is equipped with a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.0 port, microHDMI out and an SD card slot.

Dubbed a "tablet with the power of a PC", Samsung claims that the ATIV Tab 3 is the world's thinnest Windows 8 tablet. It shares design elements with the Samsung Galaxy series of smartphones and tablets (maybe that's why it gets the "Tab" branding?) and is only 8.2mm thick and it weighs just 1.2lbs.

The ATIV Tab 3 is notable because its specs are basically identical to your standard Android-based tablet, only with an Intel Atom processor and running Windows 8. The 10.1-inch display has a resolution of 1366x768, it has 64GB of onboard flash storage, a microSD slot, microHDMI out and 2GB of RAM.

Samsung says it has 10 hours of battery life, putting it on par with iOS and Android tablets. It runs Windows 8, which means it can run full Windows apps. It also uses the Samsung S Pen for creative and office work. The S Pen is even compatible with Microsoft Office.

Although the ATIV Q runs both Android and Windows 8, both new ATIV devices support something Samsung is calling SideSync. SideSync is a way for users to switch from Windows 8 to using an Android-based Samsung smart phone. This means you can use your PC keyboard to send messages on a mobile device, view maps on the larger screen of the tablet and move videos from one device to another.

summary:

Show your work and conclude with the exact phrasing "Therefore, the final answer is [answer]." where [answer] is just the final number or expression that solves the problem.
user
Samsung announced three new devices in its ATIV line of Windows PCs and tablets, including an Android-Windows hybrid.