When Maryland’s state lawmakers move the same-sex marriage bill out of a Senate committee and to a full floor vote, expect a “very close” decision. With 24 votes needed to pass, we’ve got only 20 senators who’ve publicly said they will support the bill, 18 of whom are co-sponsors; supporting but not sponsoring the bill is Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the Republican. That leaves six Democrats undecided — perhaps the most despicable among them being Sen. Joan Carter Conway, who says she will be the 24th vote if required, but will not vote for it if the bill is going to fall short and fail. Such backbone you have, Ms. Conway.
nail biters
Marriage In Maryland: Even With A Republican On Board, This Will Be A ‘Very Close’ Vote
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Ian
So not only is it incredibly difficult to pass Marriage Equality for Gay Americans in the precious few states where equality has been legalized, but even now in both Iowa and New Hampshire the GOP are working non-stop to REVERSE those hard won rights through referendums. Is there NO shame here? Did bigots act this way in government after de-segregation in trying to reverse it?
justiceontherocks
@Ian: Yes, they did.
Cam
I give credit to Equality Maryland. Unlike HRC that says “Send us money and we will be your advocates” Equality Maryaland smartly hired a lobbyist with strong ties to the Maryland government to get the job done. They wrung a statement out of the governor for the first time promising to sign a pro-marriage bill and got this bill before the state reps.
A much smarter way of doing it then throwing a bunch of parties and continually telling your members to wait for 8 years.
Tim W
What does kind of annoy me is we have been told in MD that this was pretty much a slam dunk by Equality Maryland. Now we are finding it’s very possible that it could fail.
David
@Tim W: I live in Maryland and don’t recall ever hearing this would be a “slam dunk.” I do remember hearing that Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown thinks the bill has “solid support” in the House but only a “slim majority” in the Senate. His use of the word “slim” seemed to imply the support is there, but it might not be, especially since politicians flip-flop frequently. Nonetheless, to me, only having a “slim” majority suggests uncertainty. Beyond that, even if the bill manages to get through the legislature and onto O’Malley’s desk for his signature, I’m almost certain this issue will be revisited in 2012 as a ballot referendum. This could get rather nasty, unfortunately.