Sep 28, 2007  | COMMENTS     

WE’RE ALL REELING from the terrible feeling of having four people “judge” that the provisions of equality in the Maryland Constitution do not apply to those of us who are gay or lesbian.

It’s painful to be told that we can be legally barred from the fundamental protections that stem from a civil marriage license because we weren’t incontrovertibly born gay, can’t accidentally impregnate someone or be accidentally impregnated, are too politically powerful, or could just go ahead and marry someone of the opposite sex.

To me, it feels like the Pocomoke River, Leakin Park, Sugarloaf Mountain and Sligo Creek Park are less beautiful than they were two weeks ago because they are in a state where we and our children are not valued as equals, deserving of the same right to pursue happiness as all others. It feels confusing, denigrating and insulting.

Equality Maryland’s staff and board members share your feelings of disbelief and shock. We are taking the time to be angry and sad, but rest assured, we are already moving ahead. As you have likely heard, we will be asking the Maryland General Assembly to pass the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act during the 2008 session. We have ensured this legislation protects religions and their right to refuse to perform weddings with which they disagree.

The bill also avoids creating a separate legal classification (i.e. civil unions) for our relationships, which is divisive and exclusionary. It is necessary to begin this dialogue in a position of strength and moral conviction, demanding full legal equality. Having just faced such a heartbreaking loss, sometimes it is hard to feel energized about continuing our fight for equality. Make no mistake — we cannot stop. We will not stop until our families have the same protections that other Maryland families do.

Many have asked what they can do at this moment in time. Here’s how you can help: First, please purchase a ticket to our Oct. 28 Jazz Brunch in Baltimore. We all need the words of civil rights hero Rep. John Lewis at this time, and this important benefit will enable Equality Maryland to continue our advocacy.

Second, please send a personal letter or e-mail to your legislators — your state senator and delegates — urging them to support the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act next session, and explain why it is important to you. Ask them to be a co-sponsor of the legislation. We also need you to share your story with them face-to-face, so please consider meeting with them. Equality Maryland is happy to help set this meeting up.

Third, write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about what this issue means to you. This dialogue about the freedom to marry for same-sex couples isn’t about homosexuality. It’s about the nature of a just and civil society. It’s about examining what justifications people use to treat others differently, stigmatize their children and deny them basic rights to hospital visitation, inheritance, insurance, social services, social security, family leave and so much more.

When the New York Court of Appeals in June of 2006 issued a similar opinion to the one issued by Maryland’s high court, gay and lesbian New Yorkers were demoralized. But they picked themselves up and within one year, they had passed a marriage equality bill out of their Assembly. And just this month, California’s legislature again passed a marriage equality bill and sent it to the governor.

Indeed, Equality Maryland staffers are already meeting to discuss our legislative strategy and we will need all of you to be part of that strategy by talking to your legislators, attending next year’s Lobby Day and explaining to your neighbors why legal protections are necessary. We are also in the process of launching a canvassing campaign that will talk to more than 150,000 households in Maryland in the next few months. We are not done!

We all had hoped there would be an end in sight to what seems like a never-ending struggle to be treated with fairness under the law, and last week, that ending was placed further out of our reach. Still, societal change is happening rapidly, faster than many of us imagined possible, and we will indeed prevail in our quest for justice. It may not happen overnight, but the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act will be the law of the land.