Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown
favors gay marriage.
Brown
made his comments in an interview with gay weekly the Washington
Blade published on Thursday.
“I have always believed that all
Marylanders should have an equality of rights and responsibilities,
and that includes marriage equality,” Brown said. “So regardless
of gender, we should be able to choose who it is that we are going to
marry and hopefully spend the rest of our lives with. And so I'm
supportive of that.”
A gay marriage bill has been introduced
in both chambers of the Legislature.
Brown added that if the law was
approved, gay marriage foes would likely challenge the measure at the
ballot box.
“It's not a high hurdle in Maryland
to get an issue on the ballot,” he said. “So it would be on the
ballot for 2012 during the presidential campaign.”
Maryland
is among the 17 states where a majority of people support gay
marriage.
Earlier on Thursday, Republican State
Senator Allan Kittleman announced he would vote in favor of the bill
and drop plans to introduce a competing measure that would limit
government recognition of gay and lesbian couples to civil unions.
During a closed-door meeting, the
Senate's GOP caucus voted to take an official position against the
measure. Such a position requires the backing of a majority of
members.
Kittleman
stepped down as Senate minority leader last month in part over his
dissenting opinion on marriage equality.
The measure
needs 24 votes to pass in the Senate, where 19 senators are currently
on record in favor of the legislation.