When Kate Oliver went to her state senator to speak about same-sex marriage, she told him about growing up with a gay father and about the discrimination that he and his partner of 27 years face.
"He worked really hard to make sure I was safe. I will never forget that, and I will always work to make sure he has the same protections as my husband and I," said Oliver, a social worker and mother of two.
Oliver plans to return to Annapolis tomorrow for a rally in support of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would legalize same-sex marriages in Maryland. She has made the trip from her home in Columbia to the State House 10 times in the past three years to lobby for same-sex marriage, but this year, she said, the tenor is different.
People on both sides of this issue say the legislative debate has taken on added importance in the wake of the Maryland Court of Appeals' decision last September to uphold the state's ban on same-sex marriage.
Activists, lobbyists and other advocates are preparing for an emotional fight - meeting with representatives, writing letters, appearing on talk shows, speaking to students, holding press conferences, issuing media releases, sharing their histories and honing arguments.
"The court case and the new bill does create a new and different reality, one that we're concerned about and one we believe we must respond to as quickly and forcefully as possible," said Rabbi Abba Cohen of Baltimore, a same-sex marriage opponent who directs the Washington office of the Orthodox Jewish organization Agudath Israel of America.
"On the one hand, even the leaders have told us that the chances for such a bill passing are slim at best. ... On the other hand, that there are such supreme moral and practical issues at stake makes it an issue that we must respond to," the rabbi said.
Lisa Polyak, who along with her longtime partner was a plaintiff in the lawsuit contesting Maryland's prohibition of gay marriage, has been leading letter-writing campaigns, promoting tomorrow's lobbying day and helping organize students at the East Baltimore campus of the Johns Hopkins University.
"I'll be lobbying for this bill with my last breath," said Polyak, 46, an environmental engineer with two children. "Before, we had a passive role to represent our families but to let the lawyers take the action. Now the action is incumbent upon us as citizens. ... Now we have to count on legislators to do the job that the court failed to do."
