Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley says
he believes his state is past civil unions.
An upcoming gay marriage debate was
among the topics the 48-year-old Democratic governor discussed during
a Tuesday morning appearance on WTOP's Ask the Gov program.
An effort earlier this year to legalize
such unions in Maryland ended without a vote in the House after
passage in the Senate. While O'Malley pledged to sign the bill into
law, he kept a low profile in the debate, saying only that he backed
civil unions for gay couples.
In July, after New York became the
sixth state to legalize gay marriage, O'Malley announced he would
sponsor a renewed effort during the upcoming legislative session,
which begins in January.
“I intend to sponsor the bill as part
of our legislative package in this session,” O'Malley told host
Mark Segraves. “I had made a judgment, Mark, and thought that the
place for consensus – the point at which that wave would crest, if
you will – was around civil unions. I think we are past that point
and I believe that the consensus that needs to be reached is on
marital equality rights. And I intend to sponsor that legislation
and make it part of our legislative agenda in the upcoming session.”
O'Malley denied that resistance from
primarily Black churches in Prince George's County sunk the earlier
effort.
“I don't know. I know that's part of
it. But there were also a number of different places where votes
could have materialized to put it over. Not only in Prince George's
County but in other counties, as well.”
And when asked about the chances of
passage: “I hope it passes. I think it should pass.”
“I think with every day that goes by
I think people become more comfortable with the notion, you know,
that laws need to be protected equally in a pluralistic society. And
we need to find a way to protect religious freedom. … And
sacraments should be left to churches and religious faiths, but a
government of laws needs to enforce rights and protect rights equally
among all people.” (The audio is embedded in the right panel of
this page.)
(Related: Martin
O'Malley rejects Catholic Church's opposition to gay marriage.)