Marriage Bill Introduced in Md. Senate

By Advocate.com Editors

The marriage equality bill was introduced in the Maryland senate Tuesday morning. Debate is scheduled to begin Wednesday on the measure, which has the required 24 votes to pass the chamber.

The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act passed the senate’s judicial proceedings committee last Thursday by a vote of 7 to 4. The bill included three amendments, including one on protecting religious institutions that is expected to be the subject of prolonged debate in the full senate this week.

The Wonk Room offers audio of the introduction.

Gov. Martin O'Mally has promised to sign the marriage equality bill, which is expected to pass the house of delegates.



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UPDATE: Statewide Efforts to Achieve Relationship Recognition

by Justin Ward

GLAAD Media Field Strategists Adam Bass, Daryl Hannah and Justin Ward contributed to this report.

In Friday’s edition of The New York Times, writer Charlie Savage examines the pending legal challenges to the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” and whether these cases may force President Obama to “take a clear stand on politically explosive questions like whether gay men and lesbians have been unfairly stigmatized” because of the congressional act.  But while there has been little movement on the national stage, states are vigorously taking up the issue of marriage equality.

Colorado

Earlier this month, Colorado Sen. Pat Steadman reassured civil union supporters that he would be introducing legislation during this legislative session.  This past Sunday, nearly 100 supporters of civil unions gathered at the First Unitarian Society of Denver with signs that read “Love is Love.”

“This is something that I think is overdue, something that will protect families and will make our laws a little bit more fair, and a little bit more inclusive so that everyone has the same opportunity to have economic security and stability in their family relationship,” the senator said.

GLAAD worked on the ground with One Colorado to media train 107 individuals and campaign spokespersons to talk about love and commitment.

Hawaii

Last year the Hawaii state legislature approved civil unions, only to see the bill vetoed by then-Gov. Linda Lingle (R).  Neil Abercrombie (D) was elected governor in 2010 and has expressed support for civil union legislation.  The legislature has fast-tracked a bill that is nearly identical to the civil union bill passed last year, and it sailed through the Senate by a 19-6 vote in the first days of the legislative session.  The House is likely to pass the bill in the coming days, and the governor is expected to sign it shortly thereafter.

Illinois

On Monday, Gov. Pat Quinn will sign the historic legislation legalizing civil unions in Illinois and granting hundreds of  gay and lesbian couples  legal recognition from the state. Upon signage, gay and lesbian couples will be able to make medical decisions for ailing partners as well as inherit a deceased partner’s property rights.

When the bill cleared both the state’s House (61-52) and Senate (32-24) last month, Gov. Quinn told the Associated Press: “I think they [businesses and convention organizers] look for a state that is a welcoming, accepting, hospitable place and that’s what we are in Illinois.  We have everybody in and nobody left out.”

Last March, GLAAD, in partnership with Chicago’s Center on Halstead, conducted a media spokesperson training for over 70 LGBT and allied leaders.

Maryland

A Feb. 8 date has been set for the Maryland marriage equality bill hearing.  The bill, which would remove a provision in Maryland law limiting marriage to relationships between a man and a woman, is “one of the highest profile issues before the Maryland General Assembly,” according to The Washington Post.

New Hampshire

In a press release Friday, the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition announced that Rep. David Bates (R-Windham) has introduced a bill that would repeal the state’s one-year-old marriage equality law.  Bates’ introduction of the bill comes despite bicameral support for creating jobs, not repealing marriage equality.  Several of Bates’ colleagues in the legislature have said that a repeal of marriage equality isn’t on this year’s agenda.  Ultimately the House Judiciary Committee must make that decision.  Since marriage equality became the law of the land in New Hampshire in January 2010, nearly 900 committed gay and lesbian couples have legally married in the state.

New Mexico

State Representative David Chavez has introduced two pieces of legislation that would both seek to restrict marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.  The first piece of legislation would change a state law that allows out-of-state marriages to be recognized and would exclude gay and lesbian couples from such recognition.  The second piece of legislation introduced by Rep. Chavez would propose to voters a constitutional amendment to prohibit marriage equality for same-sex couples.  Both pieces of legislation are likely to be heard in the State House in the coming weeks.

Rhode Island

The House Judiciary Committee will hear arguments on marriage equality this Wednesday, Feb. 2, according to The Providence Journal.  With support from openly gay House Speaker Gordon Fox, a co-sponsor of this year’s marriage equality legislation, as well as new Gov. Lincoln Chafee, who called for marriage equality during his inaugural address, many observers contend that marriage equality stands its best chance for passage this year.  But there are a few challenges ahead.  Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed has announced she will not support the bill.

As described in the agenda for Wednesday’s hearing, the proposed legislation would “broaden the definition of persons eligible to marry to include persons of the same gender.”  The bill also stipulates that clergy would not be required to perform any particular marriage ceremony.

In November, GLAAD worked on the ground with Marriage Equality Rhode Island (MERI) to train staff, board members, volunteers and couples on how to talk about love and commitment in the media.

Wyoming

The Wyoming legislature is faced with a series of bills to consider, all dealing with how to recognize gay and lesbian couples in the state.  The state House narrowly passed a measure that would prohibit the recognition of out-of-state marriages and sent the measure to the Senate for consideration.  The state Senate passed a constitutional amendment prohibiting recognition of all marriages of gay and lesbian couples, but the amendment still faces a vote in the House of Representatives, before being sent to voters for ratification.  Additionally, a bill that would recognize marriage equality was introduced, though it was tabled without a vote.

A measure to recognize civil unions was narrowly defeated in the House Judiciary Committee, despite having bipartisan support.  Several legislators expressed interest in reconsidering the idea of civil unions if the bill was less cumbersome.  “When you love someone, you want to settle down together,” State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R- Cheyenne) said.  “You want to have a life with them.  You want to go into that duty and obligation you have for another human being to care for them in sickness and health.  Civil unions provide that duty and obligation for them to be committed, to care for one another, and to have a life that they can build together.”

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Marriage, trans bills get boost in Md. House

by Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The same-sex marriage and transgender non-discrimination bills pending in the Maryland legislature cleared another hurdle last week when the speaker of the House of Delegates appointed a majority of supporters of the two bills to the committees that must first approve them.

House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Anne Arundel County) had been expected to retain a majority on the House Judiciary Committee in favor of the marriage equality bill as he has in past years, and did so again on Dec. 29.

But officials with Equality Maryland, the statewide LGBT advocacy organization, were less certain about the makeup of the House Committee on Health and Government Operations. That panel has jurisdiction over a pending bill that would ban employment discrimination based on gender identity and expression, which would protect transgender people. In past years, the panel has not taken a vote on the transgender bill.

Equality Maryland Executive Director Morgan Meneses-Sheets said the group was delighted with Busch’s decision on Dec. 29 to also name at least 13 supporters of the transgender measure to the 23-member Health and Government Operations Committee. The action ensures that the bill will be reported out of committee for an up or down vote in the House of Delegates.

In early December, a majority of pro-marriage equality members were named to the Maryland Senate’s Judicial Proceedings Committee, ensuring for the first time that a same-sex marriage measure would clear that key panel and reach the Senate floor for a vote. Up until now, the Judicial Proceedings Committee has blocked the marriage bill from coming to a floor vote.

“We want to move the marriage bill first in the Senate and the gender identity bill first in the House,” Meneses-Sheets said in discussing the timetable planned for the bills among a coalition of supporters.

She said further refinement of the timetable for moving both measures was to be discussed Wednesday in a conference call between Equality Maryland officials and all seven members of the legislature’s gay and lesbian caucus.

Similar to past years, Meneses-Sheets and others advocating for the two bills believe there appear to be enough votes to pass the marriage bill in the House. Supporters in the Senate believe they have the 24 votes needed to pass the marriage bill on an up or down vote but were less certain over whether they have the 29 votes needed to stop an expected filibuster by same-sex marriage opponents.

“The question is whether we can get cloture to break a filibuster,” said Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County), who supports both the marriage equality and transgender non-discrimination bills.

“That’s the mystery at this point,” he said.

Raskin said he was not familiar enough with the positions of his colleagues on the transgender bill to predict its outcome other than to say he sees support growing for that measure.

Sen. Richard Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), who is gay, said on Wednesday he’s more confident in the prospects for the marriage bill.

“I have never been so optimistic about getting this done,” he said. “Today at lunch I sat quietly by myself with a list of the members of the new Senate going over again and again in my head where the votes are, and I’m feeling really good right now both for the floor vote and the cloture vote.”

Madaleno is among seven out gays and lesbians now serving in the Maryland legislature — one in the Senate and six in the House — who said they will push hard from the inside to pass both the marriage and transgender rights bill.

Meneses-Sheets said Equality Maryland has scheduled a lobby day for Feb. 14 on Valentine’s Day, where the group hopes large numbers of LGBT Marylanders and their straight supporters will come to the state capital in Annapolis to push for both bills.

She said the group is inviting LGBT people to bring family members with them to the all-day lobbying event, with the intention that they visit the offices of members of the Senate and House of Delegates from all parts of the state.

“We’re so close that it will take just a handful of votes to push this through,” she said of the marriage bill. “The electorate is with us on this. The young voters are with us on this issue.”

Concerning the transgender bill, she said its prospects “look good on the floor of the House” but “there may be challenges” in the Senate.

Among the challenges, she noted, are arguments by opponents that a transgender non-discrimination measure would enable men dressed as women to harass women in women’s bathrooms in public places.

Transgender activists have disputed the so-called “bathroom” argument, which usually surfaces when transgender non-discrimination legislation is introduced.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, has said no reports of women being targeted in bathrooms have surfaced in any of the states, cities or counties where transgender non-discrimination laws have been adopted.

“It’s a myth,” she said.

“We need to persuade people that you should be judged on the merits when it comes to your job,” said Meneses-Sheets. “It’s an economic issue.”

She said Equality Maryland is bringing on three more full-time staff members to work on the two bills beginning Jan. 12, when the Maryland General Assembly opens its 2011 session.

The session lasts for just 90 days, a development that LGBT activists say gives them only until April 11 to secure the passage of the marriage and transgender rights measures.

“We have a lot of work to do in a short time,” said Meneses-Sheets.

Madaleno said that under the longstanding practice in the General Assembly, nearly all important or controversial bills don’t come to a final vote until the last two or three weeks of the session in April.

A late passage of both the marriage and transgender rights bill would make it more difficult for opponents to collect the required signatures for a referendum to kill the bills. Nearly all observers of the General Assembly expect opponents to take out petitions to call a referendum, which would stop the bills from taking effect until after voters decide on the issue — assuming the required number of petitions is obtained.

Under the state constitution, one-third of the required number of petition signatures must be obtained by the end of May and the remainder of the signatures needed must be collected by the end of June. The gathering of petitions cannot begin until both houses of the General Assembly passes a bill being challenged. That means it would be to the advantage of supporters of the two bills to wait until the end of the session to pass them.

The number of signatures needed is three percent of the qualified voters in the state based on the total number of votes cast in the most recent election for governor.

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