Baltimore Fox affiliate WBFF-45 is
promoting on its website a referendum to repeal gay marriage in
Maryland before Governor Martin O'Malley has signed the legislation
into law, gay weekly The
Washington Blade reported.
A link to the referendum is boldly
highlighted on the front page of the station's website. Users
clicking on the link are taken to MDPetitions.com, where they can
pledge to support the upcoming petition.
On Thursday, the
Maryland Senate followed the House of Delegates in approving the gay
marriage bill. O'Malley is expected to sign the bill into law
sometime this week.
Opponents of the measure have vowed to
put the issue before voters in the fall. To put the measure on the
ballot, opponents need nearly 56,000 valid signatures, one-third of
which would need to be submitted by May 3, with the remainder by June
30.
“So much for 'fair and balanced,'”
wrote Kevin Naff, editor for The Washington Blade.
Naff quotes a WBFF-45 employee as
saying that the link was added at the request of “corporate.”