May 22, 2009  |  By: Amy Cavanaugh  | COMMENTS     

As gay Marylanders continue to push for marriage rights, some of the state’s top officials are staying on the sidelines.

Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) has taken no public action in the weeks following a May 10 editorial in the Baltimore Sun that called on O’Malley to “demonstrate more than the casual interest he has shown in legalizing” same-sex unions.

The editorial encouraged O’Malley to have Attorney General Doug Gansler provide the governor “a legal opinion determining whether Maryland law permits the state to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.”

“And if Mr. Gansler finds that it does,” the editorial says, “the governor should immediately sign an executive order directing state agencies to adjust their rules and regulations to do so.”

But a spokesperson for the attorney general this week said that O’Malley “hasn’t asked for an opinion.”

“When the governor asks for an opinion, we’ll have to look at current case law and what’s going on in other states and what challenges those have met,” the spokesperson said. “Based on that information and research, we give an opinion and tell him if [such an executive order] is constitutional or not constitutional, or whether it’s lawful or not.”

Equality Maryland Executive Director Kate Runyon said her group is nonetheless working with the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and elected officials to “see what the possibility will be to have the attorney general supply an opinion, and we’re moving forward.”

“We want to make sure that we’re doing all the steps right in the process as well as we can,” she said, “so that the outcome is favorable for us.”

Meanwhile, some state officials are updating their views on the issue. State Sen. Brian Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat and chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, has announced plans to co-sponsor a same-sex marriage bill next year.

Frosh declined to co-sponsor the bill during the state’s most recent legislative session, which ended in April.

“I’ve been a supporter of marriage equality, but I haven’t been a co-sponsor because the hearings on the issue are extremely contentious and confrontational,” he said. “I want to be able to conduct hearings without people feeling as if I’m favoring one side over the other.”

Frosh told gay state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), the measure’s lead sponsor, near the end of this year’s session that he would next year co-sponsor the legislation. Frosh publicly revealed his plans last week.

“I think it’s great news,” Madaleno said. “He is one of the most powerful people in the state Senate, and he’s the chair of the committee the bill is assigned to, so it’s a great sign that we’re making progress.”

It’s unclear how much Frosh’s co-sponsorship will help the measure. He noted that “co-sponsorship is overrated because it really does nothing more to move the legislation through the process other than simple support.”

Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County), a lesbian, said that while she didn’t think that Frosh’s co-sponsorship of the bill would “send it over the top … the question will be, how much pressure is he willing to assert so that … holdouts support it and get the bill out of committee and have a full airing on the Senate floor?”

Madaleno agreed that Frosh’s co-sponsorship might not move votes, but it could lead to more civilized debates.

“He can help make sure that the debate remains focused on the issue at hand and that it doesn’t evolve into other more obnoxious areas that our opponents like to bring up,” Madaleno said, “like polygamy and bestiality.”

Runyon said she hopes Frosh’s new support for the marriage bill would “transfer to the transgender anti-discrimination bill as well.”

An effort this year to add gender identity to state laws barring discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and credit died after the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee repeatedly delayed taking action on the proposal.

“We’re grateful that he’s taking a stand on civil marriage,” Runyon said, “and we hope that he’ll be supportive in other areas that help protect rights for our community as well.”

Frosh said he wasn’t sure how viable a same-sex marriage bill would be next year in Maryland. A majority of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee opposes the legislation, and Frosh noted that no votes have changed.

He also indicated that the committee might not be the only hurdle for the bill. While noting that he didn’t “profess to have any insider knowledge” on the House’s stance on same-sex marriage, Frosh said he’s “heard that the votes are not there in committee or on the House floor.”

Frosh said he “wouldn’t be floored” if same-sex marriage passed ...