House lawmakers
debate marriage in Maryland

An emotionally charged debate over whether the Maryland constitution should be amended to ban same-sex marriage began Tuesday in the legislature, with conservatives pushing for a ballot question on same-sex marriage even as an appeals court weighs the matter. Before a packed room and dozens more spectators waiting outside, the house judiciary committee began hearing testimony on a Republican proposal to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriages and civil unions. Marriage equality "is not within the concept of the laws of nature," said Del. Don Dwyer, a Republican from Anne Arundel County, who sponsored the amendment. Dwyer said lawmakers would be derelict if they left the question to courts. Dwyer also said gay people can choose whether to be gay and therefore can't compare themselves to racial minorities. The clerk of an Anne Arundel County circuit court, Robert Duckworth, was even more emphatic in his support for an amendment, pounding the witness table and eliciting cheers from the mostly sympathetic audience. "If same-sex marriage becomes law in Maryland...I will refuse to perform such marriages," Duckworth said. The legislature has considered, but not passed, such amendments before. The question is more pressing this year in the wake of a recent decision from a Baltimore County judge who sided with gay and lesbian couples who challenged a 1973 state law defining marriage strictly as a union of a man and a woman. It was unclear when the committee, made up mostly of Democrats, would vote on the proposed amendment. At least one member challenged Dwyer's proposal. Del. Luiz Simmons, a Democrat from Montgomery County, argued that Dwyer's amendment could make illegal domestic-partner benefits already granted by some employers. "It strips away existing legal protections from otherwise innocent Maryland citizens who happen to be gay," Simmons said. Earlier Tuesday, Democratic senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller said he has no position on the amendment, though he thinks the ruling would be overturned on appeal because "the judge made an erroneous decision." Gov. Robert Ehrlich, a Republican, came out more strongly on the side of house Republicans by issuing a statement late Monday calling on lawmakers to vote on the amendment. Earlier the governor took a more measured approach and indicated the legal appeal should be allowed to continue. "Marriage is of such vital importance to us all" that full house and senate votes should be called on the question, Ehrlich said in his statement. Aides said Tuesday there would be no further comment on the marriage question. If the amendment is approved by lawmakers this term, voters would still have to approve the change during this fall's election before the constitution could be changed. Gay rights advocates attended Tuesday's hearing, though they were outnumbered by supporters of the amendment. Among the amendment's opponents was Larry Sternbane of Rockville. "It's putting my rights as a gay man up to the whims of the majority," Sternbane said. "We're fighting for the simple right to marry." Another opponent, Philip Tajitsu Nash of College Park, said he's straight but finds it discriminatory that same-sex couples can't marry. "We need to let everyone marry whomever they want," he said. There were no scuffles between the two sides, but they kept their distance as they waited on a plaza outside the building where the hearing was held. "I'm just here to support the biblical views on marriage," said Paul Dennis, pastor of Bradburn Bible Church in Calvert County. (AP)