BALTIMORE
—
The
American
Civil
Liberties
Union
Wednesday
sued
the
city
of
Baltimore
and
four
Maryland
county
clerks
claiming
that
the
state’s
current
law
prohibiting
gay
marriage
violates
the
Maryland
Constitution.
The
case,
Deane
vs.
Conaway,
was
filed
in
Baltimore
City
Court
on
behalf
of
nine
same-sex
couples
and
a
man
whose
partner
recently
died.
The
lawsuit
was
filed
with
the
cooperation
of
Equality
Maryland,
a
statewide
gay
rights
group.
“Maryland’s
marriage
law
is
violating
the
most
basic
guarantees
of
equality,”
said
Ken
Choe,
staff
attorney
with
the
ACLU
Lesbian
&
Gay
Rights
Project.
“This
is
about
real
harm
to
real
families.
The
Maryland
Constitution
demands
equal
treatment
and
that
means
equal
treatment
in
marriage,
too.”
Republican
Gov.
Robert
Ehrlich
quickly
denounced
the
lawsuit
on
Wednesday,
dismissing
it
as
part
of
the
ACLU’s
“far
left
agenda,”
and
adding
that
he
would
support
the
General
Assembly
in
clarifying
the
state’s
current
law
prohibiting
gay
marriage.
“Traditional
marriage
in
my
view
and
the
view
of
most
Marylanders
and
Americans
is
the
cornerstone
of
our
society,”
Ehrlich
said
in
a
statement.
“That
used
to
be
common
sense.”
Marriage
is
limited
to
opposite-sex
couples
in
Maryland
under
Section
2-201
of
the
Family
Law
Article,
which
provides,
“Only
a
marriage
between
a
man
and
a
woman
is
valid
in
this
state.”
Many
of
the
gay
couples
bringing
the
lawsuit
attended
a
news
conference
Wednesday
to
share
personal
stories
about
the
harm
they
say
Maryland’s
gay
marriage
ban
has
caused
them.
Gita
Deane,
a
42-year-old
learning
specialist
at
Goucher
College
and
her
partner
of
23
years,
Lisa
Polyak,
43,
an
environmental
engineer
for
the
U.S.
Army
Medical
Department,
said
that
they
were
motivated
to
file
the
lawsuit
to
protect
their
two
daughters.
“When
you
have
kids,
you
have
this
instinctive
desire
to
protect
them,”
Polyak
said.
“
I
believe
that
the
emotional
protections
are
important
to
their
well
being.
My
kids
are
stigmatized
because
the
lack
of
marriage
equality
harms
their
emotional
and
social
abilities.”
John
Lestitian,
a
38-year-old
chief
code
compliance
officer
for
the
City
of
Hagerstown,
said
he
was
in
a
13-year
relationship
with
his
partner
Jim,
who
killed
himself
in
2003
following
a
battle
with
depression.
He
recalled
the
anguish
he
experienced
after
his
partner’s
death.
“Surviving
a
death
of
a
spouse
is
like
surviving
an
amputation
without
anesthetic,”
Lestitian
said.
“When
I
discovered
that
Jim’s
will
was
invalid,
and
that
his
estate
would
go
to
a
relative
and
not
me,
…
it
was
horrible.
I
had
to
negotiate
to
claim
Jim’s
body
and
plan
his
funeral.
The
pain
that
the
state
causes
gay
and
lesbian
families
is
not
right,
and
it
must
stop.
“I
hope
to
find
love
again
in
my
life,
and
I
don’t
want
a
future
partner
to
have
to
go
through
what
I
went
through,”
he
said.
Charles
Blackburn,
a
71-year-old
retiree
and
his
partner,
Glen
Dehn,
66,
also
retired,
have
been
together
for
more
than
25
years.
They
said
that
as
they
grow
older,
securing
marriage
rights
has
become
more
important.
“We
are
increasingly
concerned
about
medical
decision
making
rights
as
we
grow
older,”
Blackburn
said.
“We
have
heard
horror
stories
of
couples
kept
apart
in
nursing
homes
because
they
weren’t
married.”
Dan
Furmanksy,
executive
director
of
Equality
Maryland,
said
he
is
hopeful
Marylanders
would
reject
an
effort
to
strengthen
Maryland’s
existing
gay
marriage
ban.
“We
think
all
of
these
couples
are
great
ambassadors
and
in
addition
to
taking
this
case
to
court,
we
also
have
the
responsibility
to
bring
this
issue
to
the
court
of
public
opinion,”
Furmanksy
said.
“In
two
years,
when
this
case
is
brought
before
the
appeals
court,
we
will
stand
as
a
progressive
state,
a
beacon
of
hope
for
other
couples
in
this
country.”
Furmanksy
added
that
Equality
Maryland
has
not
finalized
its
2005
legislative
agenda.
He
said
his
group
is
likely
to
push
to
resurrect
the
Medical
Decisions
Making
Act
—
a
bill
that
would
have
granted
gay
couples
the
right
to
make
medical
decisions
for
one
another
—
and
work
on
a
new
bill
that
would
allow
state
employees
to
name
a
beneficiary
on
their
state
plan.
According
to
Choe,
the
ACLU
has
pending
legal
challenges
in
Massachusetts,
Oregon,
New
York,
Washington
state,
California
and
Nebraska.
He
added
that
other
groups
have
filed
lawsuits
in
New
Jersey
and
Florida
to
legalize
same-sex
marriage.
