Supporters and opponents of Montgomery County (web|news) 's new law designed to protect transgendered people met in a Montgomery County court room Wednesday in a dispute over plans to put a referendum aimed at overturning the law on the November ballot.

At issue are the nearly 27,000 petition signatures gathered by opponents of the law, who say voters would overturn the council-passed measure if given a choice. The lawsuit seeks to have 12,000 of those signatures thrown out.

"There are very specific requirements in the election code. They weren't followed, and the board of elections has taken the position that they don't have to check," said Jonathan Shurberg, an attorney for the plaintiffs. "There are a lot of problems. There are a lot of signatures with problems."

The plaintiffs claim many of the signatures appear to be in the same handwriting, or that spouses wrongfully signed for each other. Many signatures were incomplete, missing, or otherwise questionable, the group contends.

Linda Chan, one of the petition gatherers whose signatures have been called into question, spoke by phone with ABC 7's Greta Kreuz. She denied forging any of the signatures, saying, "Everything I did was above board. I'm honest. I did the best I could under the circumstances."

Referendum supporters need to the gather signatures from at least five percent of the county's registered voters to put the issue on the November ballot. The county originally calculated that number as 25,000. But referendum opponents argued in court that because the petitions include signature from inactive voters -- voters who haven't gone to the polls recently -- the thresh hold should have been set at about 27,600, 700 more signatures than were gathered by proponents.

But proponents argued that time had expired to challenge the methodology for calculating the required number of signatures.

"What we see here is a political activist group going after this petition so that they can silence the voice of an entire county," said Amy Smith, an attorney with the Citizens for Responsible Government. 

The judge is expected to issue a written ruling in the coming weeks.

The issue, fanned by issues of gender and safety, prompted a heated behavior outside the courthouse.

"You are promoting something that's not normal," shouted one protester. 

Opponents of the new law fear it would allow men dressed as women into public bathrooms and locker rooms, creating a safety issue, they say. But supporters say it's about equal treatment for all people.

"I'm literally worried about my ability to be able to function in normal open society as an intelligent, capable person that I am," said Maryanne Arnow, a transgendered person. 

Some information from: The Washington Post