Maggie Gallagher of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM) has claimed that a gay marriage law
in Maryland is primarily about Democratic leaders lining their
campaign coffers.
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley
signed
the bill approved by lawmakers into law during a ceremony surrounded
by supporters held in Annapolis on Thursday.
O'Malley, who had championed the bill
in his annual State of the State address and at committee hearings on
the issue, said he supported marriage equality because he felt the
state had an obligation to protect the children of gay couples
equally.
“We are one Maryland and all of us at
the end of the day want the same things for our children. We want
them to live in a loving, caring and committed home that is protected
equally under the law,” O'Malley told supporters at Thursday's
event.
NOM, the nation's most vociferous
opponent of gay marriage, is supporting the Maryland Marriage
Alliance's campaign to block the law from taking effect by putting it
up for a popular vote in the fall.
Passage of the law, Gallagher told the
Baltimore
Sun, was about “Democratic leaders looking to please one of
their big-money constituencies.” She added that of the 5 states
with possible 2012 ballot questions on the issue, Maryland is the one
she's “least worried about.”
“There is no big call for this among
voters,” she said.