‘No one is left behind’

The couple opened their search for a new home to the DMV area because they have a few friends in Virginia, and settled on Maryland when Nia received a job offer to work in human resources.

Maryland’s political climate felt like it would be more stable than in some other states. “I appreciated the fact that there was this Republican governor, blue legislature, and they were still working and getting things done,” Nia said.

Since taking office in 2023, Moore, a Democrat, has championed transgender rights, signing the Trans Health Equity Act in May to require that Medicaid cover gender-affirming care in 2024 and a June executive order to “protect those seeking, receiving, or providing gender affirming care in Maryland from attempts at legal punishment by other states.”

After Moore signed the executive order, calls to Baltimore Safe Haven, a nonprofit that provides transitional housing and other services for LGBTQ+ people, spiked to around 7,000 in the first month, founder and executive director Iya Dammons said.

“It felt like the people were coming here by the boatload,” she said. “We were calling them refugees.”

In July the organization received a $2 million grant from United Way, through March 2025, to fund expenses, including rent and utility bills, for Baltimore Safe Haven clients, said Akin Abioye, Baltimore Safe Haven’s operations director. The need is still great and Dammons continues to call on the city and state for help managing what she called a “dire situation.”

People from across the country have been traveling to Maryland for gender-affirming surgeries and in search of a new place to live, Dammons said. “We have great leadership here in Maryland,” she said. “No one is left behind.”