The Maryland state Senate resoundingly passed gay marriage . The state House passed the measure, 71-67, last Friday.
The bill now awaits the promised signature from Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley, which could come as early as tomorrow. Maryland will be the eight state to legalize same-sex unions, joining Washington, New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia.
Though O’Malley has championing the cause in his home state, he’s weirdly expressed reservations about pushing the gay agenda on the national level.
In a radio interview with Sirius XM’s Michelangelo Signorile, ThinkProgress noted that O’Malley wasn’t sure if he supports an effort to include marriage-equality language in the 2012 National Democratic Platform like Nancy Pelosi does. “Perhaps, I haven’t given a whole lot of thought to that,” answered O’Malley.
He was even less sure of what to say when asked how Democrats can proactively “evolve” President Obama on marriage equality. Stammered O’Malley:
The… I don’t know. I wouldn’t. I guess, what I would. I don’t know that I’d presume to. What I believe President Obama is trying to do is the same thing that public servants of good will are trying to do on this issue in many different places… I think what all of us try to do in the short time we have to serve… what we try to do is take action and forge consensus on the front end of the wave.
Sounds like he’s afraid of pissing off Obama’s camp.
Photo: ILGA
The Real Mike in Asheville
The snowball is gaining!!!
steven
don,t forget Connecticut
William
My current home. Couldn’t be more excited
Pitou
Congrats Maryland!
P.S. Evan, Connecticut.
DB
Hallelujah! What a wonderful Lenten gift for all families in Maryland. Our prayers for Marylanders have been answered. Let’s make sure Governor O’Malley signs it and that it is not overturned by an anti-marriage amendment in November.
Cam
The bigots and right wingers are in trouble. In Maryland, even the Orthodox Jews were writing to elected officials pushing them to vote for Marriage equality.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/20/1066802/-Orthodox-Jews-Come-Out-for-Marriage-Equality-in-Maryland
As for O’Malley, he’s been kind of a wimp about this. Previously he claimed quietly that he would sign a deal but wouldn’t push it publically. Then Equality Maryland had him at a dinner and asked him point blank so he finally publically stated he was for it, but only if it provided protections for religions. He realized later that in MD. being reluctant wasn’t winning him any friends and has since become a bit more outspoken.
Steven C
I wouldn’t put Washington State on the list, yet. Yes, the bill was signed into law. But there will almost certainly be a referendum on this law on the November ballot. Current polling is 50% uphold – 46% repeal mostly along generational lines.
Phantom
Holy crap, I didn’t think it was going to happen and same with will horton gay kiss on days of our lives today.
CBRad
LOL. Gays in Manhattan are furious about this. Another blow to their superiority-fantasy.
CJ
The people at NOM aren’t sleeping too well this month.
Keep in mind, Washington State is going to be a battlefield when NOM tries to reverse Washington’s law in the coming months.
Robert in NYC
Yes, Washington’s will need 150,000 signatures gathered by June 7, easy for them to do to repeal it. Maryland’s needs 55,736 by June 30, an even easier task to get it on the November ballot. We’re not safe yet.
Cam
The great thing about NOM fighting these, is that the more they fight, the more people seem to come over to the gay rights side. It’s seeing their obvious bigotry and not wanting to be associated with it I think.
Robert in NYC
@Cam: Indeed, plus it means NOM having to keep spending millions of dollars on futile battles. It’s going to get so big as more states pass it that it could eventually signal the demise of NOM et al altogether. They’re losing the cultural war and they know it, hence their desperate attempts at ballot referenda.
The Real Mike in Asheville
@CBRad: WTF are you talking about?
CBRad
@The Real Mike in Asheville: I mean the mean-spirited out-of-town gay ghetto denizens of Manhattan hold as one of the Rules that they have to espouse they now live in the hipper, cooler place (having left the philistines behind in whatever suburb they moved from) and it gets harder and harder for them to do that everytime another state moves ahead with gay marriage. So, this isn’t as good as when Iowa beat NY to the punch, but still pretty good.
Kyle
President O’Malley has a nice ring to it.
Robert in NYC
Since the paperwork for the referendum has already begun, I would assume that even though Gov. O’Malley is signing the bill into law this coming week, does this mean gay couples won’t be able to marry as of June 30 when the current session ends in MD? What a screwed up system we have. I was under the impression the legislatures represent the voters and to me, makes no sense if referenda are allowed to override the rule of law enacted by our representatives. Totally screwed up and in my view not very democratic, in fact mob rule by a handful of people who don’t like anything in conflict with their bigoted religious beliefs that they think should be imposed on everyone who isn’t religious.
Ben
Another victory for us! 🙂
Tipper
I want Martin O’Malley to be President someday. He is definitely a great leader with amazing ideas. And, he’s hot 🙂