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Gita Deane (foreground) and Lisa Polyak, lead plaintiffs in the Maryland marriage case, address supporters at a somber event Tuesday. The state's high court upheld a law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. (Photo by Gail Burton/AP)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: JOSHUA LYNSEN COMMENTS
 
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said Bryan Stark, chair of the Baltimore Mayor’s Task Force for LGBT Issues.
“Based on what we’ve seen in our research, civil marriage is something the community desperately wants,” he said. “It’s disappointing that the rights of some Marylanders are less important than the rights of others.”
Mizeur also was surprised at Tuesday’s ruling. She expected the high court to — at a minimum — find the state’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional.
“It’s hard to figure out a scenario where someone with legal training and background, who’s looking at issues of protection, could look at this and come up with a conclusion other than that the ban is unconstitutional,” she said.
Choe, speaking from his ACLU office in New York, said, “we do not believe the court had the courage” to “do the right thing” and support marriage equality.
“We believed we had the better arguments, and we still believe that,” he said. “And we believe we have the moral imperative on our side.”
But not all who read the decision were disappointed. Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, hailed the court for rebuking “a persistent minority.”
“This is an outright rejection of judicial activism and strengthens the legal battle against same-sex marriage,” he said in a prepared statement. “Marriage is a specific union and not an open-ended question, and it benefits all of us to protect that special bond.”
Rick Bowers, chair of Defend Maryland Marriage, also applauded the ruling for ending a protracted legal challenge.
“It’s put our legislature in a position of having to make a decision now,” he said. “And to me, it is further call for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman.”
Bowers said he would spend the months leading up to the next legislative session, which begins Jan. 9, laying the groundwork for such an amendment.
“This legislative session should, in my opinion, define the character of many legislators in the eyes and hearts of many of their constituents,” he said.
Bowers said he expects the marriage equality proposals proposed by Britt and Ramirez to die in committee.
Delegate Don Dwyer (R-Anne Arundel County) told the Associated Pre
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