Jan 04, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

A marriage rights bill, tax relief proposal and other measures to benefit gay Marylanders will greet state lawmakers when they reconvene next week.

Such bills, including one to sanction the marriages of same-sex couples, are going before the General Assembly during a time when lawmakers and gay activists are seeking historic gains.

“I think there’s a strong chance the General Assembly is going to take action to remedy discrimination against same-sex couples in Maryland,” said Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland.

But he said exactly what inequities are addressed — and how they are remedied — remains to be seen.

“My job as the executive director of the state’s largest LGBT organization isn’t to glimpse into a crystal ball,” Furmansky said, “but to mobilize to make the greatest gains possible for our community.”

The greatest gains could come from the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act, a measure that would make valid marriages of “two people.”

Sponsored by Sen. Gwendolyn Britt and Del. Victor Ramirez, two Democrats from Prince George’s County, the measure also makes clear that churches may continue to choose whom to marry.

The proposal follows a September ruling by the state’s highest court that upheld a law defining 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.

Court of Appeals judges denied that claim, 4-3, ruling the state’s 1973 ban on same-sex marriage does not deny any fundamental rights. But they left open the possibility that legislators could take action on the issue.

Furmansky said Equality Maryland is organizing its members and supporters to seize on that opportunity.

“Firstly, we need individuals who’ve experienced discrimination because of the lack of relationship recognition to come forward and to share their stories,” he said. “Too many legislators still treat this like an abstract dialogue rather than concrete state-sponsored discrimination that hurts families.

“Secondly, LGBT and allied Marylanders absolutely must engage their elected officials on dialogue on this issue. Whether you live in Hyattsville or Gaithersburg or beyond, you cannot cede the lobbying to your next-door neighbor and expect to gain equal treatment by the government.”

Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, has indicated he would sign the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act if it passes the General Assembly.

‘Most difficult hurdle’

But with a cosponsor count still unknown, it’s unclear how the measure will fare in Annapolis.

Gay state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) said marriage equality is not an impossible goal, but remains “the most difficult hurdle we face.”

“When you look at the overall population in Maryland, it seems to me that you’ve got 40 percent that support marriage equality, you’ve got 40 percent who are opposed to marriage equality, and you’ve got 20 percent who are somewhere around legal recognition, maybe not marriage,” he said. “I think that the legislature falls into the same sort of percentages.”

According to a recent Wash-ington Post poll, 57 percent of Marylanders support allowing same-sex couples to form civil unions. But the poll of 1,103 Maryland adults, conducted in October, also shows less than half support allowing those couples to marry. About 44 percent back same-sex marriage.

Such numbers have caused some to question the marriage bill’s viability this session.

Rick Bowers, chair of Defend Maryland Marriage and longtime opponent of same-sex marriage, said lawmakers are likely to steer clear of the potentially divisive issue and focus on other issues.

“I don’t think that the same-sex marriage issue is going to gain any traction in this legislative session,” he said. “I think our lawmakers have other issues that they need to concentrate on and they’re going to prioritize them accordingly.”

Senate President Mike Miller (D-Calvert and Prince George’s counties) also said the marriage bill might not advance.

“It will be an issue, but I think it’s an issue whose time has not yet come,” he told the Gazette, a Maryland newspaper, last month. “For a law like that to move forward, there needs to be a strong body of public opinion and I don’t think it’s there yet in a state of moderate temperament like Maryland.”

Miller has failed to respond to repeated Blade interview requests in recent months.

Madaleno, however, said several state House and Senate members who back the marriage bill are trying to recruit through conversation and education enough allies to advance the measure.

Among the lawmakers being courted is Miller, whom Madaleno said he has spoken to on many occasions.

“I think Miller is now seeing, as many people are, a different face of gay America,” ...