Married

WJZ meteorologist Bernadette Woods is leaving the CBS-owned station to join a non-profit firm in New Jersey focused on climate change, she said Wednesday night. Woods, who has been with WJZ for seven years, said she will remain at the station helping with the transition for the next month. After that, she, her husband and their two children will be moving to Princeton, N.J., where she will join Climate Central as staff meteorologist. "I'm very excited about the opportunity in Princeton," she said.

It was extremely disappointing to read in The Sun that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is planning to preside over same-sex marriages on June 16 here in Baltimore ("Mayor will preside over mass wedding of gay couples," May 20). I, and many others, believe her decision to do so speaks volumes about her understanding - or lack of understanding - of the moral issues surrounding same-sex marriages. As a Christian and trusted political official, she must know the devastating long-range effects of such actions.

If you're a big fan, you already knew what was coming in the season finale. But it didn't make it any easier -- or less heartbreaking -- to watch. The majority of the Season 3 "Downton" finale, or the "Christmas special" as its called in the U.K., took place in Scotland, where the whole family (minus Branson) visits the Highlands home of the Dowager's niece, Susan, and her husband, Shrimpy. Most of the trip included bagpipes, hunting, more bagpipes and Scottish reel dancing. But more on that later (and more on O'Brien meeting her Scottish lady's maid doppelganger)

The DC Sports Bog is reporting that Robert Griffin III will get married to Rebecca Liddicoat on July 6 in Virginia, and found the information on The Knot, where the couple registered. A corresponding registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond has the same date, according to the DC Sports Bog, a blog for the Washington Post. The couple met at Baylor and he proposed in 2010. She's from Colorado, previous reports said. What we want to know is whether or not RGIII and his bride will have as much fun taking wedding photos as Joe Flacco and his wedding party did. Here's a reminder of what the Flaccos' wedding album looked like . Either way, we wish RGIII and his fiancée the best of luck.

Like most couples, Susan and Harry Raymond fight and make up. They watch their son's baseball games and concerts together. When her car breaks down, he comes to the rescue. And around holidays like Hanukkah, they celebrate with his and her parents.Sounds like the ideal marriage, right?Try the ideal separation.For the past 11 years, the Columbia couple has been living apart, although never by more than a few miles. They still talk almost daily, still file a joint tax return, still say they like each other.

Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones' musical about marriage, "I Do! I Do!", opens tomorrow at Dundalk Community Theatre. This musical adaptation of Jan de Hartog's play, "The Fourposter," traces the ups and downs of 50 years of married life. Jane C. Boyle and Chuck Graham star, under Nancy Powichroski's direction.In May, Dundalk's production will travel to the International Maytime Theatre Festival in Dundalk, Ireland, where it will be the sole American representative.Dundalk Community Theatre is the theater in residence at Dundalk Community College, 7200 Sollers Point Road.

Rep. Patricia Schroeder said after it was revealed that the Marine Corps wanted to ban married recruits, "If they are not allowed to be homosexuals, and they're not allowed to be married, what are they supposed to do, take cold showers?"It is pretty easy to have fun with the Marines on this. Certainly, the way the attempt at policy change was handled was inept. The order was issued before the commandant had cleared it with the secretary of the Navy or the secretary of Defense. So no sooner had the directive gone out than it was rescinded.

Washington They were in love, madly in love, when they met -- two teen-agers from a lower middle class suburb in Prince Georges County. By age 16, she was pregnant with a child no one wanted them to have.Six years later, after several break-ups and reconciliations, after he'd become famous and wealthy as a boxer and she'd dropped out of school to support her son, he asked her, on the eve of his first championship fight, to marry him.The public saw it as a storybook romance: ". . . the stuff of dreams, of fantasies little girls fall asleep with," a newspaper columnist wrote after their huge church wedding in 1980.

WASHINGTON - Sometimes government forms just don't give you enough room to say what you really want to say. When the census form or tax form asks for marital status, I look for a box that says, "Married - and proud of it." Or, "Married - and let me tell you, it hasn't always been easy all of these years, but we've stuck to it and ..." But, no. Uncle Sam doesn't care. You only get a few little boxes to describe your life to the government. As a result, you get a lot of statistics that tell you about changes in our population and precious little explanation for why the change is happening.

What's the longest-running sitcom on TV? Would you believe "Married With Children"? It airs its 250th episode tonight on Fox."Happy Birthday, Elizabeth" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- The Weirdest Dude in the Free World (you know, the guy with one glove) joins a bunch of other big names in saluting Elizabeth Taylor for her 65th birthday, all in the name of contributing lots of money to AIDS research. ABC."Lance Burton, Master Magician: The Encounter" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11)

To wrap up our pre-marital counseling, Sam and I were guided in setting goals for our future. Individually we each set three personal, couple and family goals, then shared them with each other and compared notes. Luckily, our goals were pretty much the same! Our counselor recommended that we keep these goals and every five years go back to reference them and evaluate if we met each or how things changed and adjusted since they were written. From there, she said we could write new goals for the next five years to come, and so on. This idea has lead me on an endless thought over the past few days about what the future holds and how getting married is such a major milestone in life.

Healthy societies around the world throughout history have given marriage between a man and a woman special legal protection because of the recognition that it is the one institution that ensures the society's stable future through the orderly procreation and upbringing of children. Today, 72 percent of black children, 53 percent of Hispanic children and 36 percent of white children are born outside of marriage. The decline in marriage and the rise in illegitimacy are prime factors in crime, poverty and social decay.

This is what kind of roll the Ravens are on now: they've even inspired a love story. It's not a gauzy, Hallmark Channel tale, but a story of serendipity, fate and perseverance - and a football team at the center of it all. It stars an Overlea couple named Daisy Sudano and Jim Pellegrini, who will travel to New Orleans next week and tie the knot the day before the Ravens play the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. But if you're thinking it's the story of two crazy, love-struck kids about to get hitched in the Big Easy on a purple-and-black lark, think again.

Even before pressing the elevator button to the sixth floor of the courthouse, Jessie Weber and Nancy Eddy were grinning so broadly that fellow passengers guessed their destination: the marriage license office. “I'll marry you today,” a Baltimore circuit judge happily told the two women, who were among the first same-sex couples to get a marriage license on Thursday, the first day they became available under a new Maryland law upheld by voters in November. Actually, same-sex couples have to wait until Jan. 1 to wed, when the law expanding marriage rights to gays and lesbians takes effect.

Maryland courts can issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples starting in December, as long as the effective date is Jan. 1, according to an opinion issued this afternoon by Attorney General Doug Gansler. The 19-page opinion will likely lead to a slew of New Year's Eve weddings in the Free State, as gay couples who've long waited for the law to change can finally marry at midnight. It has been clear that Maryland's new law legalizing same-sex marriage would take effect Jan. 1 if approved at referendum, but many believed the first licenses would be issued a few days later because of the New Year holiday and a mandatory 48-hour waiting period.

I am a Roman Catholic, and I will be voting for Question 6 on the Maryland ballot on Tuesday. I am voting for this referendum because I believe my family member, Mike, and his partner, Ron, have as much right to marry as I have. I am voting for this referendum because I believe my friend, Jen, and her wife have as much right to be married as I am. I have been happily married to my husband for 26 years. I am also a mental health counselor who counsels lesbian and gay clients as well as straight clients.

When I got married and it came time to decide what to do about my surname, I'll admit I took the easy way out. I kept my own last name for business purposes, but legally, I changed my name to my husband's. It seemed like a good idea at the time, as if having the same last name would make us feel more united.Still, sometimes I can't help but feel a little dissatisfied with my decision (and not just because I'm the third Sue in his family). Riding up in an elevator at a convention, a man looked at my badge and asked about the name.

ANDY SCHIFF AND HIS girlfriend, Melanie Ufema, and two of their friends were mere feet away from emptying their pockets of loose change in the security line at Denver International Airport when Schiff suddenly stopped. He dropped to one knee, and instead of loose change, pulled a diamond ring out of his pocket. "Melanie, will you marry me?" he asked. Schiff's buddy had a video camera rolling -- he was in on it, and everyone had agreed they should "document the trip" -- so it was pointed at a stunned but grinning Ufema when she said, "Yes."

Do you have a friend, co-worker, relative, or neighbor who is gay? Are they not equal citizens and human beings? How can we deny them the same rights that we heterosexuals enjoy? If your religion prevents you from accepting our gay brothers and sisters into your congregation or accepting them as equals, then so be it. Remember this law - Question 6 on the ballot - is about civil marriage and does nothing, absolutely nothing to change your church or its religious rites. Read the law if you doubt this fact.

Marriage, as it has existed for hundreds of years, goes far beyond the commitment of two individuals to each other. It is more about the formation of new families. The parents of marrying spouses eagerly look forward to the arrival of grandchildren after the marriage. The natural family unit has been, is, and will always be, a father (male), a mother (female) and a child. By themselves, gay and lesbian couples are by nature unable to create new human life. For this reason, gay and lesbian couples are not equal to heterosexual couples and their commitment should be recognized in a different legal institution.