An attempt to
revive a state constitutional amendment that would prohibit
same-sex marriage failed in the Maryland senate Tuesday,
apparently leaving no further options this year for
opponents of marriage equality.
With a proposal to amend the state constitution
languishing in committee and only two weeks left in
the general assembly session, senate minority leader
J. Lowell Stoltzfus resorted to a rarely used parliamentary
move to try to bring the amendment out of the judicial
proceedings committee. He submitted a petition asking
the senate to bypass the committee and put the
amendment on the agenda for debate.
But Democratic senator Brian Frosh, chairman of
the judicial proceedings committee, immediately
responded with another unusual move, making a motion
to table the Stoltzfus petition indefinitely.
The Frosh motion was approved on a 26-21
vote, and senate president Thomas V. Mike Miller ruled
that the amendment cannot be brought up again this
session. Seven Democrats joined all 14 Republicans in an
unsuccessful attempt to revive the amendment.
The house of delegates had voted 78-61
earlier in the session to defeat a motion to override
the house judiciary committee, which killed the
same-sex marriage ban in February.
Same-sex marriage became an issue this year
after Baltimore circuit judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled
that the state law defining marriage as a union
between one man and one woman is unconstitutional. That set
off an immediate campaign to amend the constitution to
override Murdock's decision.
But the state has appealed the ruling, and
Democratic leaders predict that Murdock will be
overruled by the court of appeals. They argued against
amending the constitution while the case is on appeal.
There was only brief discussion in the senate
Tuesday before senators disposed of the issue. "Polls
show that a majority of people in this state support
making marriage between a man and a woman," Stoltzfus
said. And Republican senator Alex Mooney said the
legislature should stand up to activist judges who
make law instead of interpreting it.
The same-sex marriage issue took on added
significance this year because the office of governor
and all 188 seats in the legislature will be on the
November election ballot. Republicans pressed to put the
amendment on the ballot, hoping it would increase
turnout among conservatives who would be likely to
vote for Republican candidates. Democrats, conversely,
feared that having same-sex marriage on the ballot might
hurt Democratic chances in November. (AP)
