Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley on
Sunday reiterated his support for proposed gay rights bills in his
state.
Speaking on the final day of the 24th
annual National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, which
took place at the Convention Center Hilton in Baltimore, O'Malley
said he would fight to make Maryland the seventh state to legalize
gay marriage.
O'Malley told attendees that
Marylanders “are a people who believe very deeply in the dignity of
every individual.”
“[T]he dignity of a free and diverse
people who at the end of the day, all want the same thing for their
children: to live in a loving and caring home that is protected
equally under the law.”
The governor added that “discrimination
based on gender identity is wrong.”
“[P]assing a law to protect
transgender Marylanders from employment, credit and housing
discrimination is the right thing to do.”
O'Malley also expressed regret for a
remark made by his wife Katie O'Malley earlier in the week at the
conference.
Talking about last year's unsuccessful
marriage equality bill, Mrs. O'Malley said: “We didn't expect the
things that happened to the House of Delegates, but sadly they did,
and there were some cowards that prevented it from passing.” She
later apologized in a statement.
“I love my wife very, very much, and
for the last 20 years she has done the very difficult job of
balancing a host of responsibilities and doing it very well,” he
said. “None of us speaks perfectly, and sometimes we make
mistakes.”
(Related: HUD's
Shaun Donovan announces gay protections at Creating Change.)