Gay Rights

Delivering same-sex marriage's first ballot box victories and the first openly gay U.S. Senator-elect, the 2012 election could be remembered as a turning point for gay rights, some observers say. Maine voters joined Maryland's in approving same-sex marriage, and the measure was leading in Washington state . In Minnesota, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage was defeated. Before Tuesday's votes, gay marriage lost all 32 times it appeared on a statewide ballot. Same-sex couples are allowed to wed in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., as a result of court or legislative action.

Maryland made history yesterday as the first state to approve gay marriage at the ballot box. The outcome on Question 6 was notable not just for what it will mean for thousands of gays and lesbians whose relationships will now be recognized as equal to those of their heterosexual peers but for what it says about the state of gay rights in America. There is good reason to believe that yesterday's vote was not just a victory for equality but a turning point. Technically, Maryland appeared to be tied for the first-in-the-nation distinction, as a similar measure was poised for passage in Maine on the same day. Another was on the ballot in Washington.

A Randallstown pastor had harsh words for gays and supporters of same-sex marriage at a recent town hall meeting, saying those who vote yes on Question 6 are approving "things that are worthy of death. " The pastor, Robert J. Anderson of the Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown, was sitting on a dais with Derek McCoy, executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, when he made the comments. Anderson read from a portion of the Bible that refers to homosexuality. "Those who practice such things are deserving of death," Anderson said, reading from the Bible.

Columnist Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has certainly written quite a flamboyant article regarding the Occupy movement ("Occupy movement got America wrong," Sept. 23). In it, he states a disconnect between them and the so-called "middle class," a catch-all term he uses to project his own identity. Most notably, at no point in the article does he refute anything that the Occupy movement stands for. Since he cannot refute their goals, he must resort to character assassination and manipulative language instead.

After drawing national attention for his attempt to muzzle a football player who supported gay rights, a Maryland delegate walked back his position Sunday and said Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo should be allowed to speak out in favor of same-sex marriage. "Upon reflection, he has his First Amendment rights," Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Baltimore County Democrat, said in a telephone interview. "And I have my First Amendment rights. … Each of us has the right to speak our opinions.

During Jon Marans' "The Temperamentals," the season-opening play by Rep Stage about the gay rights movement, a woman raises the subject of marriage. "I definitely do not believe in homosexuals marrying," she says. She isn't talking about same-sex marriage, though, since the play is set in the severely closeted 1950s. "Back then, people were arguing about whether gay men should marry women," Marans said. "There was no concept that something like same-sex marriage was on the horizon.

Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo said Friday he was surprised that Maryland Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Democrat from Baltimore County, sent a letter to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti urging him to silence his outspoken player, who has long been a vocal proponent of same-sex marriage. “Many of my constituents and your football supporters are appalled and aghast that a member of the Ravens Football Team would step into this controversial divide and try to sway public opinion one way or the other,” Burns wrote in the letter dated Aug. 29. Burns said Ayanbadejo, a 36-year-old California native, should concentrate on football.

"Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition . . . " - Henry V," by Shakespeare A colleague had warned me about Don Dwyer's rants against homosexuality, but nothing quite prepares you for that kind of thing. When the words fly from the Anne Arundel County delegate's lips directly to your ear, you almost can't believe what you're hearing. When I interviewed him a couple of years ago and asked about his strident opposition to same-sex marriage, I think Dwyer invoked God as his adviser on the issue.

We do not yet know exactly what led a young man to carry a semi-automatic pistol into the lobby of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian advocacy organization, and to instigate a confrontation that left a security guard with a gunshot wound to the arm. But the suspect's volunteer work for a Washington gay rights group, early eyewitness accounts that he made statements critical of the FRC's mission, and reports that he was carrying a...

There was a brief explosion of optimism from those supporting same-sex marriage in Maryland last week after a poll by Hart Research Associates indicated that voters in the state support it by a significant margin of 54-40. No state has ever approved gay marriage at the ballot box, but advocates here and elsewhere - The New York Times published a piece titled "Hopeful news from Maryland" - contend that the issue hasn't polled this well before either. They shouldn't get too excited just yet. Gay marriage is an issue in which polls don't necessarily reflect what voters will actually do at the ballot box because it is increasingly politically incorrect to oppose such nuptials.