http://www.delmaggie.com/?p=521As a cosponsor of the marriage equality bill – as well as one of the few openly gay members of the General Assembly – it has been a great comfort to receive so many letters of support for this legislation. Though I advocated tirelessly for this bill among my colleagues, this afternoon the House of Delegates decided to recommit the Civil Marriage Protection Act to the Judiciary Committee. While SB 116 was not defeated, it likely means marriage equality legislation will not pass this session.
I am going to make a confession here. Rarely, rarely, am I reduced to tears or rendered speechless in Annapolis-but today I was. This has been an emotional roller coaster yet today I have never been so moved by my colleagues both gay and straight. Ten years ago I “came out” and was for a time the only openly gay member of the Maryland General Assembly. Today I am one of seven. At that time colleagues of mine and I were fighting to have discrimination ended in housing and employment. Think of it: just 10 years ago employers, landlords, and others could discriminated solely because they knew or thought you were gay. That was legal!
Today I sat as dozens of my colleagues spoke in favor of Marriage Equality. I cannot tell you how proud I am of Delegates Heather Mizeur, Bonnie Cullison, Mary Washington, Luke Clippinger, Anne Kaiser, and Peter Murphy. All told their personal story, all moved the fight for equality forward. I am so honored to be here, serving Maryland, with them.
Today we made history. We must celebrate! For the first time in Maryland history, Marriage Equality had a favorable vote in the Senate and would have fallen only a few votes short of passing in the House. So why should we celebrate? I will tell you why – today the atmosphere, the debate, and even more importantly, the hearts and minds in our chamber were forever altered. Once altered, history will march on, and we will see Marriage Equality become law very soon.