A key Maryland House committee killed a
bill Wednesday that would have prohibited the state from recognizing
legal gay marriage performed in other states, according to the
Maryland Reporter.
Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr.'s bill
died in the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee on a 12 to 8 vote.
Burns, a Democrat, is also a Baltimore County Baptist minister.
Two conservative Democrats, Gerron Levi
and Kevin Kelly, joined six Republicans in voting in favor of the
measure.
Maryland currently restricts marriage
to heterosexual unions by law.
Last year, a gay marriage bill never
made it out of committee, despite wide support from committee
members.
Attorney General Doug Gansler is
expected to deliver a legal opinion on whether the state should
consider recognizing the marriages of gay and lesbian couples
performed elsewhere. A gay marriage law in the District of Columbia,
which cuts into Maryland's western border, is expected to take effect
on March 3.