Guess who’s on everyone’s schmuck list in Maryland? That would be State House Del. Sam Arora, who told The Gays when he was campaigning for his seat that, Yeah, like, totally, he was gonna support their same-sex marriage efforts. That’s why you all gave him so much money to help get him elected, and why Equality Maryland totally signed its name to an endorsement. But with the state’s same-sex marriage bill hanging by a thread, and with each lawmaker’s vote a crucial one, who won’t commit to backing the bill? Oh right: Arora. He’s only on the record saying he’ll move the bill through the House Judiciary Committee, but hasn’t stated his intent once the bill hits the full House floor. Writes one reader: “I went to law school with him, and we’re all in shock. He’s not responding to ANYONE’s texts/e-mails/voice mails.” So this can play out two ways: Arora votes against the same-sex marriage bill (or abstains from voting), and claims there is some random clause in there (maybe something about religion) that just doesn’t sit well with him. Or Arora reads all the criticism of him, realizes the gays are going to drop him like it’s hot, that his Democratic allies are all “WTF” when they see him in the chamber, and he decides to vote for the bill — and afterward is all, “What? I did what I said I was going to do.” But maybe that’s unlikely: Arora is already deleting his tweets in support of your kind. (NB: And then there’s Del. Tiffany Alston, who’s changing her support of marriage to just civil unions.) UPDATE: Arora tells constituents he will vote for the marriage bill: “While I personally believe that Maryland should extend civil rights to same-sex couples through civil unions, I have come to the conclusion that this issue has such impact on the people of Maryland that they should have a direct say. I will vote to send the bill to the floor because it deserves an up-or-down vote. On the floor, I will vote to send the bill to the governor so that Marylanders can ultimately decide this issue at the polls. I think that is appropriate.” Which means, um, you didn’t think it was appropriate before? When you agreed to vote this way?
Stanley
HAHAHAHAHA…..
I’m laughing so hard right now. You silly gay liberals thought you were going to get same-sex marriage in Maryland, and Equality Maryland, HRC, & other LGBT organizations (not to mention tons of gay folks) pumped money to elect this Democrat, Sam Arora.
And now, he has “religious concerns” and has retracted his support for same-sex marriage. Oops….
Say what you want about Republicans, but at least they will be honest and tell you where they stand when it comes to same-sex marriage and other issues of interest to the LGBT community.
Compare that to Democrats, who will say what you want to hear to get your campaign donations & vote — but then afterwards, will throw you away like a used condom.
This is what happens when you refuse to reach out to independents, moderates & conservatives, and instead pin all of your hopes & dreams to the Democratic party and HRC.
Congratulations!
Julian
Maybe we also vote for Democrats because we like things like support for Planned Parenthood, NPR, PBS, health care, schools, teachers, unions and other things that really matter. The idea we vote on one issue is a narrow and asinine simplification of “silly gay liberals.” Now, off with you… back to your simple world of black and white where you are always right.
Jeffree
@Stanley: You’re laughing because once you start crying at the sad state of your life, you’ll never stop. You, as a Christian are supposed to be IN the world, not OF the world. Get some help.
Steve
The movement of public opinion is inexorable. It is not a matter of whether. It is only a matter of when Maryland approves marriage equality. If it doesn’t move this year, the bill will move next year, or perhaps in two years time, after Arora’s replacement is elected.
By balking on major campaign promises, Arora would not only harm his own re-election chances, he would also harm the party. Even a freshman representative has to know that.
Cam
Whats going on in MD is that the vote is VERY close, so a few of these Dem lawmakers are now trying to hold their hostage for bribes of money or votes on their pet projects. Yes, they are THAT cynical. On the bright side, it may have backfired, Equality Maryalnd is starting to float recall threats and I believe have filed paperwork on it. I have a feeling these folks will come around fast.
Aaron L.
Folks. Please stop engaging Stanley. He is a child who has expressed great disdain for all gays and being gay. Has said he does not support gay marriage, gay adoption, believes being gay is an abomination, is a sin, and does not support the community. He is going through some serious mental issues, and his antics here are nothing short of a equally serious (and disturbing) mental break down. Best you can do is ignore him, because he refuses to see the serious reality in his situation and address it as opposed to be destructive and troll a gay website.
As for this politician. CONTACT him. Any means how, we need our voices to be heard. I already had 3 of my co workers, and 4 family members/friends write emails and write on his facebook page. Gather your allies, because this war will not be won silently with a Miss Congeniality banner.
IonMusic
I’m surprised Queerty did not post Arora’s contact info. Shocked actually. It’s all over every other gay website, including towleroad, encouraging visitors to touch base with his office/twitter/facebook and make him realize we certainly are not a weak community.
Also, this goes far beyond being a traitor. This man’s campaign slogan was for being in favor of equality and making a great deal of promises to same sex couples who donated a huge sum of money for his campaign. He got elected, took their money and disabled their rights. This calls for him either resigning or gays letting them have a big slice of their mind. Remember: you don’t have to be from Maryland to be an active volunteer and help make change occur.
SNT
Here’s Arora’s contact info:
Twitter: @Sam_Arora
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sam-Arora/334183772314
(410) 841-3528, (301) 858-3528
1-800-492-7122, ext. 3528 (toll free)
e-mail: [email protected]
fax: (410) 841-3011, (410) 841-3528, (301) 858-3528, (240) 245-0018
Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz1FdEjpxDw
Francis
First of all, Tiffany Alston has basically said that she is “having a hard time” voting for the marriage equality bill because of her “conscious”. She created a bill trying to essentially eliminate the marriage bill and turn it into a civil union bill. The real reason is she lives in a mostly black church town and the ear in her voice (ie. religious bigots/bigotry) have gotten to her. The fact she’s even debating this is reprehensible. She’s willing to put morality over legality, and she needs to be recalled if she does, as do all of the Republican bigots. They ALL need to be fired if they put morality over legality.
As for this Sam Arora clown, no-one has heard or seen from him in a day. A friend in MD told me that he had major pressure from his family and church to vote against this law. Not to be racial, but given he is Indian-American is close family/family friends are more likely to be socially-conservative and we’ve seen some of the unfortunate news of how many Indians are kicked out of their houses or are outed without their consent. His situation could be a number of things, but it is EXTREMELY suspect that he all of a sudden changed his mind within days, used a flimsy excuse of his “constituents” and “not wrapping my head around the issue” after accepting it for so long and running his campaign on it, and now is basically M.I.A. Something clearly happened there. If Maryland, a blue state, a state with a majority of support for marriage equality, doesn’t enact this law, everyone should be OUTRAGED and we better start making things loud and clear that we aren’t being disrespected anymore.
whatever
@Francis: The Speaker of the House of Delegates, Kumar Barve, is an Indian American, too, and he supports this bill. Don’t make things racial when you don’t have to
Francis
I’m sorry, Whatever, you’re right, I shouldn’t. I didn’t want to give off an impression “Oh, he’s Indian so he’s a bigot.” But there is truth to the fact his family is supposedly very conservative on this issue based on their upbringing and all that. And that it could be the reason why he’s backtracked, family pressure.
Francis
Based on their *Christian* upbringing.
McMike
I’m surprised no one has mention the guy has total gay face…
Francis
He definitely does, McMike. Major gayface situation. I wondered about that too.
Jeffree
Now that Arora has decided to vote YES (talk about flipping!) on equal marriage, we still have to plan on NOM working behind the scenes to sway other Delegates from the YES to the NAY column.
Meanwhile Mags is cryin’ in her beer.
Drake
@Stanley:
Stanley, you sound alot like someone who hasn’t been laid in a very very long time.
hephaestion
@Stanley: Republicans are heinous fools who want to keep us dependent on middle eastern oil, who refuse to recognize global warming, who believe Obama is a Moslem raised in Kenya, who refuse to fund anything that helps Americans or the nation’s infrastructure, who want ALL of our money to go to the military, who want to give giant tax cuts for the rich, who get us into insane deficits, who insist upon fucking over every country on earth with immoral interventions, and who want to keep blacks and gays third class citizens forever. FUCK the Republicans. The worst Democrat is better than supporting the demonic, insane Republicans.
justiceontherocks
The House Committee voted to send the marriage bill to the full house. The vote was 12 – 10. The Maryland House is scheduled to take up the bill next week. Vote is expected to be close.
dvd
I’d still do him.
And I agree with McMike – he has total gayface.
Jaroslaw
SNT – I don’t know why, but I’m logged into facebook – no comment box came up so I can’t add one but all the usual shit – homosexuality is a chosen behavior, conversion therapy has been “proven” to work etc. You can get through on the 410 number but the 800 number doesn’t work presumably because it is for Maryland residents. (I live elsewhere). I am sending a regular email also and thanks for the info.