Advocates Gear Up for Maryland Marriage Battle 

Seeking to build on the momentum of New York's historic marriage victory, a coalition of LGBT rights organizations and liberal groups has begun to lay the groundwork for marriage equality in Maryland.

TheWashington Post reports that the new coalition Marylanders for Marriage Equality, which includes the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry, and Equality Maryland, will launch its broadened effort during a Tuesday press conference in Baltimore.

"We'll be running a very aggressive campaign that targets specific districts and regions where we need to shore up our vote count," said one pro-equality lawmaker, Del. Heather R. Mizeur.

Maryland lawmakers shelved a marriage bill in March after it became clear that there were not enough votes in the state House of Delegates to pass it. The Maryland state senate had narrowly passed a bill legalizing marriage equality in February.

In the last state marriage equality effort, Mizeur said, "We all started running toward getting a bill passed without building a campaign in advance." (Read the report here.)