Baltimore Sun: Antigay Forces Lying to Maryland Public

TheBaltimore Sun's editorial board excoriated antigay leaders in Maryland who are "resorting to the same playbook of false attacks they have used to great effect in other states."

Maryland voters will decide in November whether to affirm a law passed by the legislature that cleared the way for marriage equality in the state. The Sun writes that the secretary of state wisely wrote the language for the ballot initiative plainly, laying out clearly what the law will and won't do. What it will do is bring equality to the state's people, the newspaper says, and what it won't do is force religious leaders to perform same-sex weddings. But the antigay Maryland Marriage Alliance is already stirring fear and spreading lies by telling people that the topic of marriage equality will be taught in schools. That's not true, the Sun points out; local superintendents and school boards decide curriculums, not the legislature.

The Maryland Marriage Alliance is also insinuating that business owners will be sued if they don't honor requests made by gay couples.

"This law has nothing to do with that, either," according to the Sun. "The gay marriage law is silent on the issue of public accommodations because that has been settled law in Maryland for more than a decade. Just as that hypothetical baker can't now refuse to serve someone because he is Catholic or black or disabled, he cannot refuse to serve someone because of his sexual orientation. That was the result of a law championed by then-Gov. Parris Glendening in 2001. It was controversial at the time, but it has not led to bakers (or anyone else) getting busted by the thought police in the decade since."

Read the full editorial here.