Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has become the most prominent official in Maryland to endorse gay marriage, telling state legislators yesterday that he believes the current ban on same-sex unions amounts to discrimination.
"It would be hard for me to have this job knowing there is something so wrong in our society," Gansler told the Senate panel considering a bill to legalize gay marriage. "I just think it's wrong to discriminate against any people because they think differently or because of their sexual orientation."
But Gansler also said that lawmakers in Annapolis might not have the "political courage" to legalize gay marriage this year and that the General Assembly will probably "settle" for civil unions, which would confer many of the rights afforded to married heterosexual couples.
Gansler joined a steady march of lawmakers, clergy, concerned citizens, activists, children of gay parents and others who testified on both sides of the issue over several hours before the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. The panel is also considering a bill to put a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage on the November ballot, and a bill that would create domestic partnerships in place of civil marriage, a possible vehicle for civil unions.
Gay-rights activists have made passage of same-sex marriage a priority this year after Maryland's highest court upheld last year a 34-year-old state statute defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Gansler's office defended the law in that case, and yesterday he said the court made the right decision based on the law as it is written. He said that law should be changed by the legislature.
Opponents argued that gay marriage would tear at the fabric of society and force public schools to teach approval for same-sex unions. They suggested that voters should decide the issue through a constitutional amendment. Twenty-seven states have constitutional provisions that prevent same-sex marriages, though Maryland does not.
"The issue keeps coming up again and again and again," said Sen. Janet Greenip, an Anne Arundel County Republican and sponsor of the constitutional measure. "Let the people decide whether we should have marriage the way we know it, or if it should be changed."
