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Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley told the Blade he would sign a same-sex marriage bill if the legislature sends it to his desk. (Photo by Mel Evans/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J and JOSHUA LYNSEN COMMENTS
 
It was a disappointing year for gay Marylanders, who waited months for a court decision in a high-profile marriage case. Ultimately, justices narrowly ruled against extending benefits to same-sex couples.
In D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty took office and quickly got to work making changes. Below is a roundup of the year’s top 10 local news stories.
Since taking office in January 2007, Mayor Fenty shook up the city’s Department of Health and HIV/AIDS Administration, putting in place new leaders and making staff changes that the mayor said would strengthen the fight against AIDS.
Fenty also named Christopher Dyer as director of the city’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Affairs, replacing Darlene Nipper, the appointee of former Mayor Anthony Williams, who some activists had hoped would be allowed to remain in that post. Fenty continued the practice of previous mayors by appointing gays to various positions in the city government and on boards and commissions. He included two gay men among his first round of high-level appointees — Patrick Canavan as chief operating officer of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, the city’s public psychiatric hospital; and Lars Etzkorn as director of the Office of Property Management.
Later in the year, Fenty named gay Democratic activist Clark Ray as director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Although Fenty has reiterated his support for same-sex marriage, he backed down from a campaign promise to release a legal memorandum written by former city Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti, which reportedly says the city has existing legal authority to recognize same-sex marriages from Massachusetts. Fenty, saying Congress might intervene to bar the city from recognizing gay marriage, indicated through a spokesperson that he has no plans to release the memo any time soon.
After a court ruled against them in September, Maryland’s gay couples and activists pledged to take their fight for marriage equality to Annapolis.
“It is now time for the General Assembly to honor Maryland’s tradition of tolerance and justice and to strike down the ban on marriage for same-sex couples,” said Dan Furmansky, executive director at Equality Maryland.
The state’s highest court upheld Sept. 18 state law that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The ruling ended a lawsuit filed in 2004 by 19 gay Marylanders who claimed they were being denied fundamental rights.
Plaintiffs had won the first round in court. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled in January 2006 that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violates the state constitution’s Equal Rights Amendment, which bars discrimination based on gender.
Court of Appeals judges overturned that decision, 4-3, ruling that the state’s 1973 ban on same-sex marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights. They also said the state has a legitimate interest in promoting opposite-sex marriage.
In the wake of the ruling, Democratic state Sen. Gwendolyn Britt and Del. Victor Ramirez promised to introduce bills to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. The measures would make valid unions of “two people.”
Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, said he is open to signing a marriage bill. He also supports civil unions, though he angered gay rights supporters in the aftermath of the ruling by invoking the Catholic sacraments in a controversial statement.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Democrat, opposes civil unions. Maryland House Speaker Michael Busch supports civil unions.
Reacting to vocal community opposition to nude dance clubs, the D.C. Council in June passed a weakened version of legislation introduced by gay Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) aimed at helping to relocate gay and straight adult entertainment businesses displaced by the city’s new baseball stadium.
Graham’s One-Time Relocation of Licensees Displaced by the Ballpark Amendment Act passed with a series of weakening amendments that, among other things, prohibit more than two businesses covered under the bill from moving into a single ward. Two of the straight clubs displaced by the stadium quickly sought and received permission by the city’s liquor board to move into a warehouse district in Ward 5, which club owners believe to be one of the few remaining areas in the city suitable for adult entertainment businesses.
The two remaining gay clubs forced to close by the stadium must now seek to relocate in areas closer to residential neighborhoods. Their chances of finding a site that does not violate zoning rules and other restrictions not exempted ...
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