Apr 24, 2009  |  By: Amy Cavanaugh  | COMMENTS     

Maryland’s 2009 legislative session ended last week with minimal gains for gay residents. A transgender anti-discrimination bill failed again, as did efforts to enact same-sex marriage.
Despite a Democratic governor and strong Democratic majorities in both houses of the legislature, some in the party have consistently voted down pro-LGBT measures. With the 2010 elections for all Maryland legislators looming, here’s a look at nine Democrats with spotty records on LGBT issues.

Martin O’Malley
Governor
In office since 2007
Equality Maryland 2008 score: N/A

A proponent of LGBT rights and protections as Baltimore’s mayor, O’Malley has been less visible in his support of such measures as governor of Maryland. The Democrat has pledged to sign a bill authorizing same-sex marriage, should it reach his desk, but has indicated a preference for civil unions. He notably angered gay Marylanders by invoking the Catholic sacraments in a statement after the state’s high court ruled in 2007 that same-sex couples do not have the right to marry.

Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr.
Senate president
In Senate since 1975
Equality Maryland 2008 score: 30 of 100

Miller (D-Calvert and Prince George’s counties) has long opposed same-sex marriage and civil unions, but has supported allowing domestic partners to visit each other in the hospital and make funeral decisions for each other. Openly gay Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) once described Miller as being “on that same journey of knowing more people in his life who are open and seeing the day-to-day issues that we face, and at the same time trying to balance that with his long-held religious beliefs and just personal feelings on the issue.”

Michael Busch
House of Delegates speaker
In House since 1987
Equality Maryland 2008 score: 60 of 100

Busch (D-Anne Arundel County) opposes same-sex marriage, but supports civil unions. In 2008, he supported allowing domestic partners to visit each other in the hospital and make funeral decisions for each other. But as speaker of the House, Busch could more actively and publicly back LGBT rights. New Hampshire House Speaker Terie Norelli, for example, demonstrated her support of LGBT rights when she got the chamber to reconsider a transgender anti-discrimination measure. The bill then passed.

C. Anthony Muse
Senator
In Senate since 2007
Equality Maryland Score: 0 of 100

As a member of the key Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Muse (D-Prince George’s County) has opposed all measures protecting or recognizing same-sex couples. Muse also has opposed a transgender anti-discrimination bill. Carrie Evans, a former Equality Maryland policy director, once said of Muse’s resistance to key LGBT measures in the Senate, that it would take “God coming down to the Senate floor and telling Sen. Muse to vote for it” to “move Sen. Muse at this point.”

Aisha Braveboy
Member, House of Delegates
In House since 2007
Equality Maryland 2008 score: 0

Braveboy (D-Prince George’s County) has notably voted against every measure that would recognize domestic partners. But unlike other legislators who share such a track record, Braveboy has not yet had the chance to show whether she would vote against a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Brian Frosh
Senator
In Senate since 1995
Equality Maryland 2008 score: 60 of 100

Chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Frosh (D-Montgomery County) has voted in favor of allowing domestic partners to visit each other in the hospital and make funeral decisions for each other, but was cited this year as one reason a transgender anti-discrimination bill failed to pass. An Annapolis insider said Frosh’s committee was “suffering from lack of leadership on the issue,” and that if Frosh “stepped up to the plate and was a strong leader,” the legislation could have passed this year.

Frank Conaway, Jr.
Member, House of Delegates
In House since 2007
Equality Maryland 2008 score: 60 of 100

Conaway (D-Baltimore) represents the heavily gay Mount Vernon area and has voted against a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. But this session, Conaway worked to muddy discussion of an inheritance tax bill benefiting same-sex couples by introducing an amendment that would have defined domestic partner as “an individual of the opposite sex with whom another individual has a child in common.” The amendment was defeated. He has also likened same-sex marriage to polygamy.

Norman Stone, Jr.
Senator
In Senate since 1967
Equality Maryland score: 0

A member of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, Stone (D-Baltimore County) was the only ...