The Ways and Means Committee had a packed room and packed agenda on Wednesday afternoon.
The final bill on the agenda had the most witnesses signed up, House Bill 47 - Fairness in Girls' Sports Act.
Delegate Kathy Szeliga called this a simple bill, one that just says that only biological girls can play in high school girls' sports.
The fact that dozens of witnesses testified on both sides of this bill suggests that this bill is anything but simple.
"It is a uniquely distressing experience to sit in a state facility and listen to elected officials debate you're a real person.. who deserves to participate in society," said a non-binary witness asking the Committee for an unfavorable report.
Those in favor of the bill argued that it's not an anti-trans bill.
"Why is there such a partisan divide on this issue?" she asks.
The bill is likely to meet the same doomed fate of a similar bill introduced last session.
Delegate Joe Vogel made a point that even when anti-trans bills don't pass, their introduction in state legislatures can be detrimental to the trans community.
Another bill that sparked fierce debate was HB25, Delegate Nino Mangione's bill to prohibit sexually explicit materials from school libraries.
"Let me be clear that this is not book burning. This is not book banning. This is about setting standards for public school libraries and for young children," he said.
Opponents felt differently.
"I cannot forgive our culture and education system for not providing us with honest comprehensive sex education. When families and schools fail to equip young people with this protection, youth must rely on self-education or remain ignorant and vulnerable like I was," said a woman who described her religiously conservative upbringing and the sexual assault she endured and blamed herself for. "Access to information is power. Libraries and books are effective, safe, and healthy tools for learning and healing."
Others argued that the bill is unnecessary as there are already regulations to keep sexually explicit materials out of schools and that the bill could lead to a lack of LGBTQIA+ diversity in school materials.
A third bill that received deep-seated backlash was HB71 which would provide a grant for schools for teacher education and materials about the Holocaust.
One opponent said that it would be treasonous for Black lawmakers to vote for the bill as "the real Holocaust" was Black suffering in America over the past several centuries.
Another argued that the number 6 million, might not be an accurate death count for the Jews in the Holocaust.
As part of the sponsor, Delegate Mark Edelson's, presentation on the bill, he shared data from a recent 50-state survey on American knowledge about the Holocaust.
10% of young Americans didn't believe it happened. 11% thought Jews were responsible for the Holocaust and in Maryland that number was 13%. 23% believe that the Holocaust was either a myth or exaggerated.
To the first in-person opponent of the bill, Delegate Dalya Attar posed a question.
"Isn't it so, that this person's testimony proved why this bill is necessary?"
A total of fourteen bills were heard in the Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday afternoon.
Another bill was on the agenda but had been withdrawn by the sponsor.
