Maryland Same-Sex Couples Fight To Be Recognized

LGBT, NewsBites — By Speak Equal on January 29, 2010 at 12:28 pm

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – A Baltimore County delegate urged state lawmakers Thursday to prohibit Maryland from recognizing gay marriages authorized by other states or countries.

Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr. told House Judiciary Committee members that Maryland must act quickly because Washington, D.C.’s city council passed a bill last month legalizing same-sex marriage.

“Our back door is wide open,” Burns said. “Our law does not speak to marriages performed in other jurisdictions.”

Maryland law has said since 1973 that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in the state.
Gay couples may soon be able to apply for marriage licenses in neighboring D.C., although Congress oversees district laws and the bill must pass a period of 30-day review by Congress.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is now looking into whether the state can recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Mary Ellen Russell, executive director of the Maryland Catholic Conference, asked committee members to approve Burns’ measure to protect Maryland’s political process.

“The question here is whether or not the decision to legalize same-sex marriage should be made by the legislature, by the people of Maryland, or dictated by out-of-state boards and jurisdictions,” Russell said.
The Maryland House Judiciary committee has rejected measures similar to Burns’ bill in the past. Gay marriage supporters asked them to reject this proposal too, saying marriages shouldn’t “blink off” when a person crosses state lines.

Del. Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery, said Burns’ bill is a “step backward in a state that always presses forward.” Mizeur had a Maryland wedding ceremony with her female partner more than five years ago, and they received a marriage license from California in 2008.

“In Pasadena, Calif., 3,000 miles away from here, we are treated as a married couple, in Pasadena, Md., 30 minutes away, we’re not,” Mizeur said. “In Cambridge, Mass., our marriage would protect us were life to deal us a bad hand. In Cambridge, Md., we are two unrelated women with some very expensive legal documents and a lot of uncertainty.”