Marriage equality
advocates rally in Maryland

Several hundred gay rights advocates rallied at the Maryland statehouse in Annapolis on Monday to oppose efforts to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage. "For the first time in Maryland history, people are proposing to amend the constitution to write out one group of people," said Daniel Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, a gay rights advocacy group. "It is not morally OK to change a constitution to say it applies to everyone but one group of people." The crowd heard same-sex marriage defended as a matter of equal rights by several speakers, including Kweisi Mfume, former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate. "I know that gay bashing and immigrant bashing and union bashing at the end of the day rob us of our moral authority," Mfume said. "Governments don't make good families, but bad laws can make it difficult for families to do what they have to do." Lise Van Susteren, another Democratic senatorial candidate, attended the rally, along with several Democratic lawmakers and representatives of organized labor and the Maryland NAACP. The crowd also heard from Lisa Polyak, one of the 19 plaintiffs in a lawsuit that resulted in a declaration by circuit judge M. Brooke Murdock last month that the Maryland law defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman is unconstitutional. "Some in this state say they just want to amend the constitution like they were fixing a flat tire," Polyak said. "Our homes are at risk. Our children are at risk," she said. She drew laughter from the crowd by recalling a comment of her 6-year-old daughter: "I don't want them to offend the constitution." After Murdock's ruling, opponents of marriage equality introduced bills to let voters decide in November whether they want to amend the constitution to prohibit same-sex couples from getting married. Democratic legislative leaders contend the legislature should wait to see if Murdock's opinion is overturned by the appellate courts before taking any action. They succeeded in killing a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the house judiciary committee and then rejected a move to bring the bill out of committee to the full house of delegates for debate. Republicans in the house and senate have not given up hope of getting an amendment on the ballot for November, although they acknowledge it will be hard to overcome the opposition of Democratic leaders, who are fearful of a negative impact on Democratic candidates if the issue is on the ballot. Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who has advocated on behalf of some rights for gay couples, opposes same-sex marriage and has tried to put pressure on Democrats to place the issue on the November ballot. (AP)