Oct 05, 2007  |  By: KEVIN NAFF  | COMMENTS     

O’Malley was publicly silent on his position; his then rival for the Democratic nomination in the governor’s race, Doug Duncan, denounced the amendment effort and criticized O’Malley for not speaking out on the issue. This week, O’Malley said he didn’t recall the timing of his announcement, but that he remains firmly opposed to such an amendment.

“I don’t think the constitution — any constitution — should be used to discriminate,” he said.

O’Malley did not commit to supporting any specific legislation, but repeated an endorsement of civil unions. He also said he would like to revisit the Medical Decision Making Act, which his Republican predecessor, former Gov. Robert Ehrlich, vetoed. That measure would have given registered domestic partners — gay or straight — hospital visitation and medical decision making rights.

O’Malley said he contacted Equality Maryland this week about setting up a meeting to discuss legislative priorities for next year.

Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, told the Blade this week that his group is “decisive” about moving forward on a full marriage bill, and that its lobbyists plan to talk to lawmakers about the inequality that “separate classifications” such as civil unions would enact.

“All avenues to equality remain on the table, since our No. 1 goal is to make life better for LGBT Marylanders and their families,” Furmansky said. “But we will not in any way be advocating for the introduction of a civil unions bill.” He added that a civil unions bill would “undercut” the marriage dialogue.

“The word ‘marriage’ is imbued with religious connotations,” O’Malley said. “Civil unions allow us to create consensus.”

But he didn’t completely close the door on one day backing same-sex marriage.

“The most important quality in a leader is a willingness to grow and dialogue and reach compromise,” he said. “So I try to keep an open mind on all issues.”

O’Malley also expressed admiration for the plaintiffs in the marriage case, applauding them for “the courage it takes to step out of private life and into the public arena to fight for what they believe in.”

“I feel badly for the tremendous amount of anger that they must feel to live in a state where the law doesn’t protect them equally,” he said.

Polyak dismissed the remarks and called for O’Malley to act on his words.

“I wish he felt less empathy with our anger and more empathy for our lack of legal protections,” she said. “He’s in a unique position to