Same Sex Marriage

WASHINGTON - In what was billed as the first-ever presidential forum devoted to gay rights, seven Democratic candidates delivered strong statements of support yesterday for gays and lesbians on issues ranging from allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military to guaranteeing government benefits for same-sex couples. At the same time, the leading Democratic candidates grappled, sometimes awkwardly, with the volatile issue of gay marriage, an idea that only the longest shots in the nomination contest are willing to endorse wholeheartedly.

With legislators voting to approve same-sex marriage in Maine and New Hampshire last week, the momentum for change in marriage laws is building. Soon, Rhode Island may be the only New England state that does not recognize gay marriages. Iowa already permits them. California did briefly. Last week, members of the City Council in Washington, D.C. voted overwhelmingly to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Maryland, where the law requires marriage to be between a man and a woman and where attempts to overturn that requirement have been bottled up in legislative committees, could yet join the national trend.

An attorney for nine gay couples told a judge yesterday that the state law that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman violates their rights under the Maryland Constitution. Attorneys for the state, representing five city and county clerks who have refused to issue marriage licenses to the gay men and lesbians, said there is no right to same-sex marriage. The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court, has propelled Maryland into the national debate over who may enjoy the emotional, psychological and legal benefits of marriage.

The Maryland General Assembly will soon consider legislation to remove the state's ban on same-sex marriage. We wholeheartedly support the effort. Numerous are the rewards - to the individuals involved and society as a whole - that spring from this vital social institution. The broad range of benefits (and obligations) that come with marriage should not be denied certain people because of sexual preference. But it would be foolish not to recognize that the proposal has little chance of passage this year.

When Kate Oliver went to her state senator to speak about same-sex marriage, she told him about growing up with a gay father and about the discrimination that he and his partner of 27 years face. "He worked really hard to make sure I was safe. I will never forget that, and I will always work to make sure he has the same protections as my husband and I," said Oliver, a social worker and mother of two. Oliver plans to return to Annapolis tomorrow for a rally in support of the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would legalize same-sex marriages in Maryland.

BOSTON - Gov. Mitt Romney voiced support for a ballot initiative proposed yesterday that would end same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the only state where such unions are legal. "My view is that marriage should be defined as a relationship between a man and a woman," Romney said, expressing a position he has advocated consistently. The proposal to amend the state constitution, announced yesterday by the Coalition for Marriage and Family, would restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman, and would bar Vermont-style civil unions.

Within minutes of Maryland's high court upholding a ban on same-sex marriage, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle began preparing for what is sure to be a pitched battle in the next General Assembly session over what rights -- if any -- gay couples should be afforded. "I see it being a fight," said Sen. Brian E. Frosh, the Montgomery County Democrat who chairs the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. "And it's hard to predict the outcome." Conservative lawmakers promised to reintroduce a constitutional amendment that would make clear that marriage is an institution limited to heterosexual couples, an amendment that has stalled in committee in years past.

WORCESTER, Mass. - Massachusetts became yesterday the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, ending a centuries-old tradition in the United States that limited matrimony to one man and one woman. Although gays and lesbians held wedding ceremonies earlier this year in San Francisco, Oregon, New York and New Mexico, the unions were not legally sanctioned. Vermont legalized civil unions four years ago, granting same-sex couples the same rights as married people within the state, but without using the word "marriage."

Elbridge James wasn't surprised when many of his fraternity brothers ridiculed him for supporting same-sex marriage. But what James didn't expect was for a handful of his old college buddies to rise to his defense. They, too, believed that gays' and lesbians' battle for marriage is a matter of civil rights. "We're talking about a black fraternity that has had issues with homophobia," he said. "But I think when you get the message out, and people start to listen, they realize the question is about respecting others' rights."

NEW YORK - The emerging Republican Party platform embraces a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage - despite an unusual open split on the matter between President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney - and declares that only heterosexual couples should receive legal recognition and related benefits. Republican platform drafters speedily and easily approved the unprecedented party policy statement on marriage yesterday. Spurning pleas by gay Republicans for a paragraph that would explicitly acknowledge divisions over gay and lesbian issues, the party officials called their action a response to moves in Massachusetts, San Francisco and elsewhere to legalize same-sex marriage.