Maryland Gov. O'Malley To Sponsor Same-Sex Marriage Bill
July 22, 2011 4:11 pm ET by Matt Gertz
In a press conference this afternoon, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley announced that he will sponsor a marriage equality bill next year and make its passage a priority. Washington Post reports:
While O'Malley said he would have signed the bill this year if it had passed, he did not include it in his list of legislative priorities. Now he said he believes he can help make more of a difference in another try.
"There are times in Annapolis when a governor's support can move an issue over the goal line.... This is one of those issues that can be resolved, as New York showed, with proper protections in place for religious freedoms," O'Malley said.
Earlier this year, a marriage bill passed the Maryland Senate, but it was sent back to committee in the House of Delegates after a massive campaign by anti-gay opponents put its passage in doubt, effectively killing the legislation.
In 2009, New York similarly saw a marriage bill pass one house of the legislature but fail in the other, a vote that delayed marriage equality until this year. O'Malley appears to be planning to take a central role in the fight for the bill's passage, following the example of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
