Feb 22, 2008  |  By: JOSHUA LYNSEN  | COMMENTS     

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler last week announced his support for same-sex marriage and quickly found himself the target of criticism from conservative opponents of a bill to legalize such unions.

“I understand that it’s a lightning-rod issue,” he said, “but it just doesn’t seem like it ought to be.”

In an interview this week, Gansler told the Blade that he expected mixed reactions to his stance. He said “a number of people” thanked him, but he also became “fodder for right-wing radio for hours” the day after he testified.

Speaking before a state Senate committee, Gansler described legalized same-sex marriage as inevitable.

“Dismantling this final barrier to full citizenship for gay and lesbian citizens is a moral imperative and a logical, historical inevitability,” he said. “This is a basic matter of fairness to thousands of Maryland families who are discriminated against in terms of the hundreds of benefits of marriage.”

Gansler testified in support of the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act. The bill, sponsored by 49 legislators, would make valid the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. Gansler’s public support for marriage rights was ironic, given that his office defended the state against a lawsuit filed by gay couples seeking marriage rights. The state’s high court narrowly upheld a 1973 law limiting marriage to straight couples.

“I do believe that in five, 10, 15, 20 years, however long it is, there is no question in my mind, no question in my mind, we will have gay marriage in Maryland and throughout the United States,” he said. “And the question is sort of how do we get there.”

The act also stipulates that churches may continue to choose whom to marry, which Gansler said, “draws the correct line, I believe, in separating church and state.”

But he said even with that safeguard, the bill might not pass the General Assembly.

“Collectively, I don’t know that we have the political courage to pass gay marriage here in Maryland,” he said. “We’ll probably end up settling on civil unions.”

Some of Gansler’s fellow Democratic leaders oppose the marriage bill. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert) has said he doesn’t think there are enough votes to pass the measure. Miller also opposes civil unions.

Gansler is the highest-ranking elected state official to endorse the Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act.

“No statewide official in the history of Maryland has ever thought it was important enough of a bill to go down and testify for,” he told the Blade. “I think it is.”

Gansler, who is straight, said he chose to testify in support of the measure because he wanted to play his “small role in trying to change this inequity.”

“I have a lot of friends who are gay who have partners,” he said. “And to see what they go through and sort of the second-class status they’re subjected to because they’re not allowed to be married, that’s certainly something that affected me.”

He also told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee that he testified because “the role of the attorney general is not just to enforce the law, but to seek justice in every case.”

Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, welcomed the endorsement.

“Attorney General Doug Gansler has proven that he believes in justice for all people in Maryland,” he said, “and the history books will favorably record that he was the first statewide official in the state to stand up for marriage equality.”


Flood of testimony

Gansler’s announcement came during a crowded legislative hearing Feb. 14 that unleashed a flood of testimony for and against same-sex marriage.

Among the opponents were Joe DiMarco of Concerned Women for America of Maryland, who said any sanctioning of same-sex unions would “further weaken the family” and “encourage children to experiment with homosexuality.”

Sen. trong>Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), the state’s only openly gay senator, said marriage would give Maryland’s gay and lesbian families a new sense of security. (Photo courtesy of Rich Madaleno)