If you haven’t kept track of the marriage-go-round, our state-by-state tour has taken up camp in lovely Maryland.
Maryland is a blue state but connected to the South, so it’s a great place to take the country’s temperature.
Thus far, it’s going pretty easy with few disruptions, as we’ve seen in other states. Actually it’s been very civil, but reports tell us that’s all about to change.
Last week, the marriage-equality legislation passed in the Maryland Senate and was sent to the General Assembly. There, it will get a hearing, which many feel might get a little testy. It seems the anti-equality people decided that equality had the votes in the Senate and decided not to spend their time or resources there, but instead to target the Assembly, where they feel they have a better chance of defeating marriage equality.
The governor has agreed that if passed by both the state Senate and Assembly, he’ll sign the bill into law. So the Assembly now takes main stage and marriage opponents will make their last stand.
The opposition always uses the same scare tactic: Marriage equality will somehow hurt the institution of marriage. But that might not work in this case, since Maryland has a trump card: Washington, D.C.
A scare tactic only works if you can prove your theory, but next door to Maryland is Washington, D.C., where marriage is legal. And where the Assembly members will note that marriage equality has not caused one problem for those in so-called “traditional marriages.”
Adding to that, there are several out state Assembly members who are well known to their peers. When you get to know us and our issues, the fear crumbles. This is the message for our community: The only weapon our opponents have is fear. If we are known, that weapon no longer works.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media, having received the 2010 Columnist of the Year Award from the 2,000-member Suburban Newspapers of America. He can be reached at [email protected] .