In his Sunday column, former Maryland Gov.Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.writes that "advocates [of same-sex marriage] have attached themselves to the civil rights movement" and that we're making parallels to a "Jim Crow brand of discrimination" ("Maryland will reject same-sex marriage," April 15). That's offensive and plain wrong. It's also part and parcel of the strategy adopted by some to pit Marylanders against each other.
Mr. Ehrlich should stop echoing the anti-gay voices in his party — like the National Organization for Marriage (which funds and runs the Maryland Marriage Alliance), who wants to, by their own admission, "drive a wedge between gays and blacks." Cynical tactics like this have no place in Maryland. The vast majority of marriage equality supporters — Gov.Martin O'Malley, legislators, the pro-equality coalition, union members, supportive ministers — don't compare gay marriage to the decades-old fight for civil rights. It's not the same. We're confident voters this fall will support all Maryland's children being protected equally under the law.
