Gay Rights

About 60 people protested homophobia during a high-spirited march and rally at Towson State University yesterday.The group of students, faculty and supporters marched at lunchtime through the crowded heart of campus, chanting and carrying signs with gay-pride slogans."

Former NPR and current Fox News political analyst Juan Williamsmade an excellent point  recently on "The O'Reilly Factor. " Mr. Williams said the major reason President Barack Obama had not endorsed same-sex marriage is because of the strong opposition to it in the black and Hispanic communities. Who could have doubted, though, that the president favors expanding the definition of marriage to include gays and lesbians? Vice President Joe Biden brought this divisive social issue to the forefront of the presidential campaign with his comments Sunday on "Meet the Press.

WASHINGTON - Supporters and opponents of Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts Jr. were caught off guard yesterday by news that he worked behind the scenes years ago to assist a gay-rights group to win a key case before the nation's highest court. Debate erupted on conservative and liberal Web sites, with partisans on both sides asking whether Roberts' assistance to what is usually considered a liberal cause was an aberration from his otherwise conservative record or a sign that his views might be more nuanced than commonly thought.

If never having done anything stupid or regrettable in high school were a requirement for holding public office, only angels and saints would qualify. Still, it's a bit ironic that Mitt Romney's supporters, some of whom recently were only too happy to criticize President Barack Obama for tasting dog meat as a child in Indonesia, rose up in indignation this week over a published report of an incident from their candidate's past that painted a less-than-stellar picture of the presumptive GOP nominee.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to legalize same-sex marriage quickly won approval in the Maryland Senate Thursday night. The measure now needs the governor's signature. Cheers erupted in the Senate chambers after the 25-22 vote was read out loud and the group of seven gay and lesbian lawmakers from the House of Delegates rushed to the middle of the floor to embrace supportive senators. "I think I'm speechless," said Sen. Richard Madaleno, the only openly gay senator. "This is a remarkable day. " O'Malley, a Democrat, shook hands with activists after the vote.

The decision by a national law firm to drop its contract to defend the Defense of Marriage Act on behalf of the U.S. Congress in the face of criticism from gay rights groups, and the subsequent resignation in protest of the partner assigned to the case, raises thorny issues about legal ethics and the effective pursuit of justice. DOMA, as the law is known, prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legally sanctioned by the states and frees states that do not allow gay marriages from recognizing those performed elsewhere.

T he election last week of Roslyn Brock of Maryland as the new chairwoman of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People again marked a generational shift in leadership of the nation's oldest civil rights group. Ms. Brock, 44, and NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, 37, are the youngest to hold their positions in the organization's history, and both have pledged to make it relevant to African-Americans born after the high tide of the civil rights movement. But how exactly do Ms. Brock and Mr. Jealous intend to signal the new direction in which they want to take the organization?

T here are two interesting things about Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell's executive directive this week banning discrimination in the state government's personnel actions on the basis of sexual orientation. The first is that Mr. McDonnell, pilloried during the 2009 campaign for the conservative social views expressed in his graduate thesis, would take such an action at all. And the second is the broad reasoning he used to support it. Mr. McDonnell gained national attention last fall when his opponent, Democrat Creigh Deeds, started making an issue of the Republican's thesis as a graduate student at Regent University, which, among other things, took a dim view of "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators."

Richard Grenell had the right resume to be Mitt Romney's spokesman on foreign policy -- a stint as communications director for four of the Bush administration's U.N. ambassadors; a degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; his own international PR firm and frequent stints on TV as an expert on international issues. Too bad for him he has a boyfriend. Mr. Grenell was the first openly gay spokesman for a presidential candidate, but he never got to speak. Before he even officially started the job, enraged homophobes in the so-called pro-family community spooked Mr. Romney's campaign staff.

Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has been vocal about his support of gay rights and same-sex marriage in Maryland. He filmed a video for Equality Maryland and has spoken about the subject on ESPN. Now another Ravens player has gone public with his support -- and he did it on Twitter, of course. Apparently responding to the news that CNN anchor Don Lemon has come out of the closet , Ravens wide receiver and soon-to-be free agent Donte’ Stallworth called opponents of gay rights “hypocrites.” Well, technically he called them “ hyporcrites, ” but I won’t mock him for ignoring the red squiggly lines.

Barack Obama has crossed the Rubicon and come to the defense of same-sex marriage. For him, it was a small step, since his is already the most pro-gay rights presidency in history, but it will have big political ramifications. The war is on. The line is drawn. Mitt Romney -- who, in another incarnation as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, said he stood to the left of Teddy Kennedy on gay rights issues -- now is opposed not only to gay marriage but to civil unions.

Richard Grenell had the right resume to be Mitt Romney's spokesman on foreign policy -- a stint as communications director for four of the Bush administration's U.N. ambassadors; a degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; his own international PR firm and frequent stints on TV as an expert on international issues. Too bad for him he has a boyfriend. Mr. Grenell was the first openly gay spokesman for a presidential candidate, but he never got to speak. Before he even officially started the job, enraged homophobes in the so-called pro-family community spooked Mr. Romney's campaign staff.

Meet Nathan Fletcher, candidate for mayor of San Diego. He will lose, at least if the polls are right. But he has raised a minor stir through a video posted online a few days back. In it, he explains his decision to leave the Republican Party and identify henceforth as an independent. "I don't believe we have to treat people we disagree with as an enemy," he says. "I think we can just say sometimes we disagree. ... I've fought in a war," adds Mr. Fletcher, a Marine who served in Iraq.

Catherine Curran O'Malley grew up with a swirl of history at her doorstep. Daughter of a powerful Maryland senator, her dad's positions led white supremacists to picket her home. The neighborhood priest once denounced him from the pulpit. Young Katie didn't always understand why her family — especially her father, J. Joseph Curran Jr. — was the target of vitriol. "I knew there was this hatred out there," O'Malley, 49, said. "I knew whatever he was doing was the right thing.

A few days ago, a U.S. Marine returned to the States after six months in Afghanistan. Spotting his new honey among the people waiting, he rushed forward and planted an enthusiastic kiss -- their first kiss, as it turns out. A friend snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook. And all heck broke loose. Under other circumstances, it would have been an event noteworthy only for being ordinary, a scene we've seen played out a million times. But we've never seen it like this. That's because Sgt. Brandon Morgan's "honey" is a guy named Dalan Wells, and that photo of them playing same-sex tonsil hockey thus manages to simultaneously affirm and subvert a cherished bit of patriotic iconography: the returning serviceman being greeted by the one he loves.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to legalize same-sex marriage quickly won approval in the Maryland Senate Thursday night. The measure now needs the governor's signature. Cheers erupted in the Senate chambers after the 25-22 vote was read out loud and the group of seven gay and lesbian lawmakers from the House of Delegates rushed to the middle of the floor to embrace supportive senators. "I think I'm speechless," said Sen. Richard Madaleno, the only openly gay senator. "This is a remarkable day. " O'Malley, a Democrat, shook hands with activists after the vote.

I am writing in reference to a story that appeared in the May 27, 2010 issue of the Washington Blade regarding Gov. Martin O'Malley's recent appearance at an event sponsored by the Gill Action Fund, a group of wealthy LGBT political activists (http://tinyurl.com/25ve6xu). Both the Gill Action Fund and Governor O'Malley have lost credibility in my view. Despite this, I still plan to volunteer and vote for Mr. O'Malley. He's a lot better than the alternative, and while he has consistently stated he is opposed to same-sex marriage, he has also pledged he would sign a marriage equality bill if it made it to his desk.

In the old Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church in Bolton Hill, the congregation on Sunday gave a prayer of thanks for what the Rev. Andrew Foster Connors described as "the new light of hope arising from the Maryland State House. " Barely two miles down the road in the Greater Harvest Baptist Church, where members demonstrate their devotion by swaying in place and calling out their approval to their pastor's words, the Rev. Rev. Errol Gilliard Sr. issued a call to arms.

Catherine Kelly and Sue Heether began their relationship in 1994, when both were teaching at a Baltimore-area Catholic school, and felt they had to keep the arrangement closely guarded for years. But as same-sex couples became more visible over the past decade — and the women left the school, went into business together, started raising twins and discovered Kelly's breast cancer — they were ready to show their family to the world. Kelly, 55, and Heether, 43, are among the growing number of gay couples living and raising children in Maryland and willing to say so. The number of same-sex couples in the state increased by 51 percent over the past decade, and more than a quarter of those couples are raising children, according to 2010 data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.