Backers of keeping Maryland's gay
marriage law turned to Baltimore's annual Gay Pride Festival on
Sunday to gather support for a looming ballot fight.
On the final day of Baltimore Pride,
volunteers for both the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition
and the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama spread
throughout the festival grounds, the Baltimore
Sun reported.
Maryland lawmakers approved and
Governor Martin O'Malley signed a measure legalizing gay marriage
earlier this year. The law won't take effect until January 1, 2013,
giving opponents sufficient time to attempt to repeal the law at the
ballot box in November.
Supporters passed out stickers, sold
t-shirts, registered voters and recruited volunteers at the annual
celebration which took place at Druid Hill Park.
“This is about people's lives,”
Kevin Nix, a spokesman for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, told
the paper. “It's about people getting married and protecting their
kids.”
Nix added that support had grown since
President Barack Obama made his historic endorsement last month.
“There's been a shift since the
president came out in terms of favoring marriage equality,” he
said. “We're in a strong position headed into the fall.”