Moving Maryland Forward Network

The House is debating the same-sex marriage bill today. As a Millennial, it is shocking that this even needs to be discussed because to me, it is simply a matter of equality, fairness and justice. No ifs, ands, or buts. In the committee hearing last Friday, one of the proponents of the bill stated that it is a generational issue; that younger people overwhelmingly support same-sex marriage for Marylanders. He is correct. Some members of older generations fear same-sex relationships because it is different. But for us Millennials, it is not different. We grew up with it.  

So many of the important people in my life also happen to be part of the LGBT community. I know this because we live in a time when it is possible to be openly gay or lesbian (although it is not always easy to do so). I also know there must be other people in my life who have not come out yet, and I just can’t believe that so many people are not treated with the equality and respect that every single person deserves. I hope that the testimony provided by the LGBT community and its allies will change enough minds for the bill to pass this session. I know it can, because Republican Delegate Wade Kach of Baltimore County, who voted against the bill in committee and was a co-sponsor of a bill that would define marriage as between a man and a woman, announced this morning that he will vote “yes” on the same-sex marriage bill after being “significantly moved” by the testimony of gay and lesbian families raising children.

Governor O’Malley said in his State of the State address, “I’m sure there are many who in hindsight of history will say, “why did it take them so long?…” Rick Abbruzzese, O’Malley’s Director of Public Affairs, pointed out that people must have wondered the same thing when Attorney General Curran was attacked for supporting interracial marriage (See below).

I am eagerly awaiting to see if when this bill passes so my friends and the rest of the Maryland LGBT community can get the equal treatment they deserve. I am one of many who is already asking, “Why has it taken so long?”