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By: ELIZABETH WEILL-GREENBERG COMMENTS
 
Maryland Del. Donald Dwyer (R- Anne Arundel) announced this week that he has stopped
collecting signatures to repeal a gay rights bill already vetoed by the governor.
Just last week, Dwyer and Rick Bowers of Defend Maryland Marriage said the
signature gathering efforts to repeal the Medical Decision Making Act would
continue.
“The veto pretty much brought a close to that issue,” Bowers said.
When asked why his position changed since last week he said, “I don’t
want to address that.”
Tres Kerns of Votemarriage.org, who was working to repeal the Safe Schools
Reporting Act, the Hate Crimes Penalties Act and the vetoed Transfer and Recordation
Tax Exemption bill, said he would not meet the June 30 deadline to submit 17,062
signatures for each question, as reported by the Associated Press. The Hate
Crimes Act and the Safe Schools Act are scheduled to become law in July.
“It’s always heartening when voices of intolerance fail in their
anti-gay efforts,” said Dan Furmansky of Equality Maryland. “It
offers a glimmer of hope that we might achieve an override on the MDMA.”
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