Supporting the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act

(If these aren't clear enough when you click on them, you can find the originals on the City Council's website here...)

 

I have received some inquiries asking if the Baltimore City Council would be taking a stand in favor of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act.  Evidently, the Montgomery County Council unanimously approved a resolution last Tuesday supporting state legislation to allow same-sex marriage and now there is some question as to whether Baltimore City would follow suit.

The answer is "Yes!  We are on record supporting marriage equality - and we have been for almost three years!"

The resolution above - introduced in February of 2008 - was the first piece of legislation I introduced after I came onto the City Council.   When it was clear that the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act was not going to pass the General Assembly that spring, the Council amended our resolution of support to remove the specific references to that year and those bill numbers - specifically to make it clear that we were on record supporting the idea...no matter when.

Lisa Polyak, vice president of the board of directors for Equality Maryland, a nonprofit lobbying organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, (and a 4th district neighbor!) told Erin Cunningham of the Montgomery County Gazette last week that the idea of same-sex marriage has more support than in the past, with more than 55 co-sponsors of the House bill - up from about 40 last year; in the Senate, the identical bill has twice the sponsorship that last year's bill received. According to Polyak, "There is growing recognition that equality under the law is something that their constituents want and need."

The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act says that same-sex couples could marry, but no given church would be required to marry them if that church chose not to do so. Current state law says that only a man and a woman may marry, but as the Council's resolution so clearly reminds all of us "The opportunity to publicly and legally commit to share one’s life with a person of one’s choice is for many people one of the most central aspects of human experience, and denial of marriage to same-sex couples is the denial of a fundamental civil right."

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