Maryland Senate to Debate Same-Sex Marriage

I truly hope the Maryland Senate passes the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Act. which will grant full civil marriage rights to same sex couples. If the bill passes, the irony will be that several former opponents to passage changed their minds after hearing the anti-gay vitriol and lies from folks like Maggie Gallagher and similar extremists. One can only hope that as more and more voters begin to support marriage equality the shrill bigotry and nastiness of homophobes who try to cloak their hatred under the veil of protecting the "sanctity of marriage" will be increasingly recognized for what it is. As noted before, if both Washington, D.C., and Maryland have full marriage rights for all citizens, Virginia will feel the pressure and become even more competitive in the competition for progressive and innovative businesses. Here are highlights from the Baltimore Sun on tomorrow's debate:
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The state Senate has just one bill on its agenda Wednesday: the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Act.
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"We've cleared the desk," Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller told senators Tuesday morning. "We have nothing else to do tomorrow aside from that bill." Debate on the contentious measure to allow same-sex couples to marry is expected to run into Wednesday evening and carry over to Thursday. Miller has told senators to clear their weekend schedules in case an expected filibuster extends into Saturday.
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The bill, which would repeal Maryland's definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, is widely expected to clear the Senate — but there are no guarantees. Twenty-four senators have declared their support for the measure, the minimum needed for final passage.
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Advocates in the House of Delegates say they are close to having the votes for final passage in that chamber, and Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he will sign the bill if it passes.
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Much of Wednesday's debate is expected to focus on technical issues. Jacobs said she wants to strengthen a provision intended to allow religious organizations to opt out of participating in same-sex ceremonies.