Maryland Lawmakers: NY Marriage Has No Pull Here

Advocates of family equality in Maryland had hoped that the advent of marriage parity in New York would translate to new hope for a similar law in their own state. But legislators have an answer to that: Not so fast.

The Maryland state senate passed a marriage equality bill earlier this year, but the measure was two votes shy of the support it would have needed to pass the House of Delegates. Lawmakers set the bill aside without a vote to avoid seeing it fail.

But when Maryland equality advocates took note of the strong leadership of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and the support that the bill drew even from Republican state lawmakers, they began to wonder whether a similar combination would work to win same-sex families first-class citizenship in their state, Maryland news source Gazette.net reported on June 27.

A spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign seemed to verify that there is hope to be found for families in states where marriage is reserved as a special, heterosexuals-only right.

"The New York debate is illustrative to what public support can do in order to give lawmakers the public support and the backing that they need to make the right decision," said the HRC's Michael Cole-Schwarz.

"Gay rights supporters in Maryland can learn a lot from the effort in the Empire State, which will join Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Iowa and Washington, D.C., as places where same-sex couples can marry," the Gazette.net article said.

An openly lesbian Maryland lawmaker took note of the New York law's bipartisan support. "It's love that makes a family, but marriage that protects it," said State Delegate Heather Mizeur on a June 27 radio interview.

State Sen. Allen Kittleman also remarked on support from GOP New York state lawmakers. "I think it does say something about this issue becoming more acceptable to the Republican Party," he said. The lawmaker, a Republican himself, has lent his support to the earlier marriage equality measure.

"What happened in New York demonstrates that this is not an issue supported by one party," Kittleman added. "It's a good message to Republican lawmakers that you can support this bill and still be a good member of this party."

Maryland legislators entertained the notion that moderate Republicans among their colleagues might be persuaded to support the measure. But a July 1 follow-up at Gazette.net indicated that such support would not be forthcoming -- not for marriage equality, anyway. One Republican lawmaker did suggest that if equality advocates were to propose civil unions, that might be more palatable to conservative lawmakers.

"I don't see it as having a huge impact on what happens here," said State Del. C.T. Wilson of the historic New York vote that ushered marriage equality into the Empire State, setting the stage for the number of Americans living in marriage equality states to double once the law goes into effect.

Had a vote been take, the Gazette.net article said, Wilson would have voted against marriage rights for gay and lesbian families.

State Del. Nicholaus Kipke told the media that the minds of his colleagues are made up, saying, "The positions of lawmakers are pretty well-entrenched on the issue." But, Kipke said, he would vote in favor of a bill to provide civil unions, which GLBT equality advocates regard as both separate and unequal to full-fledged marriage rights.

The hard reality of opposition to full equality before the law for same-sex families was acknowledged by one supporter of family parity, former Equality Maryland board member Darrell Carrington.

"While it certainly puts some wind in your sails and gives you some hope that another state can do this, it's a completely different situation" in Maryland than in New York, Carrington told the media.

One element is Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a marriage equality supporter who, unlike Andrew Cuomo, preferred to keep a lower profile when seeking to persuade legislators to support the bill earlier this year.

"Governor O'Malley was incredibly helpful to us behind the scenes in the last session, but if we're going to be successful next year, we can't run a closeted campaign for marriage equality," said Mizeur.

At least one delegate did agree that the success of marriage parity in New York might encourage Maryland lawmakers to extend the protections and obligations to gay and lesbian families in their own state -- but only if the voters are similarly swayed.

"As an elected representative of the people, I can't always vote my conscience," Del. Robert Costa told Gazette.net. Costa said that he personally supported the idea, but most of his constituents did not. However, "I think some of the people, their positions will evolve based on what's happened in New York," Costa added.

New York's marriage equality law only passed because it included protections for religious agencies, guaranteeing that churches would not have to marry same-sex couples if their doctrines teach that commitment between people of the same gender is a matter of "sin."

Opponents to the New York measure cited fears that churches and religiously affiliated groups might face legal action if they denied same-sex couples out of religious beliefs.

Wilson suggested that similar fears are at play in Maryland. "Many of the citizens I've talked to," Wilson said, were "not against homosexuality; they're not against gay marriage. They just want to protect the religious sanctity of marriage."

A recent poll showed that, for the first time, a majority of Americans believe that gay and lesbian families ought to have recourse to the legal recognition and protections of marriage. Climbing social acceptance of sexual minorities and their families might, some argue, translate into more court victories for equality advocates.

Some equality proponents also believe that, given America's respect for the military, even greater acceptance will follow once "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the anti-gay law banning service by openly gay and lesbian servicepeople, is repealed.

Another major roadblock is a second anti-gay federal law, the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies same-sex families any federal-level recognition. That law is under challenge in 10 different federal cases, and has already been found unconstitutional by one federal judge. The Obama Administration has stopped defending the law in federal court, due to questions about the law's constitutionality.

A bill to repeal DOMA has been introduced in Congress by pro-equality lawmakers. Should DOMA be repealed or stuck down by the courts, an avenue to federal recognition of same-sex families might one day be possible.