Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon
Ayanbadejo and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley on Wednesday cheered
passage of Question 6, which upholds a gay marriage law approved by
lawmakers.
The law will now take effect on January
1. Voters in Maine and Washington state also approved similar
measures on Tuesday, while Minnesotans rejected a constitutional
amendment which sought to limit marriage to heterosexual couples.
(Related: Gay
rights groups buoyed by election day victories.)
“I'm so stoked,” Ayanbadejo, who
had strongly backed the measure, told the Associated Press. “It's
like I woke up and it was Christmas.”
O'Malley, who signed the bill into law,
lauded the results in a series of tweets to his more than 31,800
followers: “Tonight, we made history. We voted for dignity. We
voted for marriage equality.”
“By voting for marriage equality, the
people of our State affirmed that we are One Maryland & we're all
in this together.”
“A message to Maryland's kids:
whether your parents happen to be gay or straight, your families are
equal under the law,” he wrote.