The Maryland Senate voted a 25-22 in favor of marriage equality, with the House having already passed its bill. Governor Martin O’Malley will sign it and it would take effect January 2013. Opponents will now try to gather 55,736 signatures necessary to refer the Civil Marriage Protection Act to the general election ballot — before the law can take effect.
Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
WOO-HOO! This is wonderful news for Maryland.
Unfortunately 56,000 signatures will be all too easy to collect.
“Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion…”It seems to me that DOMA is unconstitutional not only because it violates equal protection, but because it respects the establishment of any religion that condemns homosexuality.