Need a bit of good news this gloomy-weather Friday? Here’s some: there was a great victory for equal rights in Montgomery County, Maryland earlier this week.

As the good women of Feministing report, the county council passed a law a year ago prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity, but right-wing groups’ efforts to prevent it from taking effect have delayed its enforcement. On Wednesday, a court put an end to the right-wingers’ obstructive tactics.

Transgendered people in Montgomery County will now have legal recourse against discrimination, and, as Ann at Feministing explains, a broader range of people will also be protected:

While most headlines couch [the victory] in terms of preventing discrimination against transpeople (which, of course, the law does), the actual language bars discrimination on the basis of gender identity. This is a broader term that covers people who may not identify as trans, but run the spectrum of gender-nonconforming presentation.

Excellent news!