ANNAPOLIS,
Md.
—
The
national
dialogue
over
gay
marriage
comes
to
Maryland
this
month,
as
the
General
Assembly
prepares
to
debate
one
bill
that
would
recognize
same-sex
unions
and
another
that
would
ban
such
recognition.
Conservatives
from
both
sides
of
the
aisle
plan
to
introduce
legislation
that
would
prevent
Maryland
from
recognizing
gay
marriages
performed
in
other
states.
Gay
rights
activists
said
that
their
top
priority
is
defeating
a
proposed
Defense
of
Marriage
Act
that
would
define
marriage
in
Maryland
as
the
union
of
one
man
and
one
woman.
“Stopping
a
DOMA
bill
will
be
our
No.
1
priority,”
said
Larry
Jacobs,
board
president
of
Free
State
Justice,
a
Maryland
gay
rights
group.
“I
am
hopeful
that
it
will
not
go
anywhere
and
won’t
get
out
of
a
committee.”
Del.
Emmett
C.
Burns
(D-Baltimore
County)
said
last
month
that
he
intends
to
sponsor
a
DOMA
measure
that
would
define
marriage
as
between
a
man
and
woman
and
reject
gay
marriages
performed
in
other
states.
He
told
the
Washington
Post
that
gay
marriage
would
burden
businesses,
requiring
them
to
provide
health
and
other
benefits
to
gay
spouses.
“I
don’t
want
to
live
next
door
to
people
who
have
a
same-sex
relationship
and
have
children
and
have
my
children
playing
with
them,”
Burns
said
at
the
time.
“Civil
unions
and
all
this
business
is
bad
policy
economically,
socially,
educationally
and
politically.”
Burns
did
not
return
Blade
calls
seeking
comment.
Meanwhile,
Maryland
Del.
Rich
Madaleno
Jr.
(D-Montgomery
County),
who
is
gay,
said
he
is
working
with
a
number
of
legislators
to
draft
a
proposal
regarding
a
civil
marriage
bill,
or
possibly
some
other
form
of
recognizing
same-sex
relationships,
such
as
civil
unions.
“Right
now
I’m
talking
with
my
colleagues
to
figure
out
what
is
the
best
way
to
proceed,”
he
said.
“Part
of
it
is
what
do
we
want
out
of
this
year?
Do
we
want
it
to
be
a
year
where
we
are
educating
the
public
or
do
we
try
to
get
a
civil
unions
bill
passed?”
Jacobs
said
that
Free
State
Justice’s
other
legislative
priorities
will
include
the
passage
of
a
hate
crimes
bill,
inclusive
of
gender
identity,
and
“the
long
process
of
obtaining
some
sort
of
relationship
recognition
in
Maryland”
for
gay
couples.
The
Maryland
General
Assembly
reconvenes
on
Jan.
14.
Jacobs
spoke
confidently
about
the
prospects
for
a
hate
crimes
bill.
“I
think
that
it
has
a
pretty
good
shot,”
Jacobs
said.
“We
think
that
including
gender
identity
is
the
right
thing
to
do
because
that
segment
of
our
community
is
more
often
than
not
the
target
of
hate
crimes.”
But
a
hate
crimes
bill,
which
did
not
include
protection
for
gender
identity,
failed
last
year
in
a
Senate
committee
after
Sen.
John
A.
Giannetti
cast
the
deciding
vote
killing
the
bill.
At
the
time,
Giannetti
told
the
Blade
that
Free
State
Justice
failed
to
discuss
the
merits
of
the
bill
with
him.
However,
former
Free
State
executive
director
Jon
Kaplan
said
that
Giannetti
told
him
he
was
supportive
of
the
bill
and
Kaplan
said
he
decided
to
invest
limited
resources
in
lobbying
other
senators
who
did
not
support
the
measure.
Maryland
Del.
Rich
Madaleno
Jr.
(D-Montgomery
County),
who
is
gay,
said
that
when
the
state’s
hate
crimes
law
was
initially
passed
in
1988
to
include
race,
religion
and
national
origin,
Gov.
Robert
L.
Ehrlich
Jr.,
who
was
then
a
delegate
from
Baltimore
County,
was
the
second
co-sponsor
of
the
legislation,
which
passed
without
opposition.
“To
me,
there’s
no
philosophical
argument
Republicans,
who
overwhelmingly
passed
the
original
hate
crimes
bill,
can
make
that
says
hate
crimes
are
bad
policy,”
Madaleno
said.
“Whenever
the
argument
becomes
about
including
the
GLBT
community
in
hate
crimes
legislation,
opponents
always
say,
‘Well,
I
don’t
believe
in
enhanced
penalties
for
crimes.’
Well,
they
obviously
did
not
have
a
problem
with
it
when
it
was
race,
religion
or
national
origin.
It
will
be
very
interesting
to
see
how
this
debate
will
play
out.”
 |
| Del.
Emmett
C.
Burns
(right)
(D-Baltimore
County)
plans
to
introduce
a
DOMA
measure
in
the
Maryland
House
this
session
that
would
ban
recognition
of
gay
marriages.
|
Madaleno
said
that
based
on
that
argument,
gay
men
and
lesbians
have
“the
upper
hand”
on
the
issue
but
said
that
the
challenge
will
be
“the
gender
identity
piece.”
“For
those
of
us
who
live
in
the
Washington
area,
there
have
been
a
number
of
hate
motivated
crimes
against
transgender
people
but
for
those
who
are
in
other
areas
of
Maryland
and
not
regular
readers
of
the
Washington
Post,
this
will
be
something
new
and
we
must
educate
them
about
these
crimes,”
Madaleno
said.
Madaleno
said
a
constitutional
amendment
banning
gay
marriage
in
Maryland
is
unlikely
since
such
a
measure
would
have
to
be
passed
by
a
super-majority
in
the
General
Assembly
and
then
be
placed
on
a
ballot
for
voters.
“I
just
don’t
see
it
passing,”
Madaleno
said.
“It
passed
the
state
Senate
when
DOMA
legislation
was
fashionable
in
the
late
‘90s
but
it
died
in
the
House.
And
now
you
have
a
more
progressive
majority
in
both
chambers.”
In
November,
Gov.
Ehrlich
told
WBAL
Radio
in
Baltimore
that
he
is
opposed
to
gay
marriage
and
that
it
“will
not
be
the
public
policy
of
Maryland
as
long
as
I’m
here.”
He
also
called
marriage
the
“bedrock
foundation
of
society”
and
added
he
would
not
“contribute
to
the
denigration
of
that
bedrock.”
Ehrlich
did
not
return
Blade
calls
for
this
article.
