Nearly 200 people signed up to speak at
a hearing on gay marriage in Maryland, including Maggie Gallagher,
chair of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), and Peter
Sprigg of the Family Research Council (FRC).
The Senate Judiciary Proceedings
Committee is considering Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola's bill
that would legalize gay marriage in the state.
During a public hearing on the measure
Tuesday, people were given 3 minutes to make their case.
Sprigg, who
in an interview broadcast last year on MSNBC's Hardball,
told host Chris Matthews that “gay behavior” should be
criminalized, told
the committee that marriage serves two public purposes: “Bringing
together men and women for the reproduction of the human race and
keeping together a man and woman to raise to maturity the children
produced by their union.”
Gallagher echoed a similar sentiment:
“Marriage is the union of husband and wife for a reason: these are
the only unions that can make new life and connect children in love
to their mom and dad.”
But she also warned that allowing gay
and lesbian couples to marry would have “consequences.”
“It's time for the hypocrisy to end;
it's time the discrimination to end and for all families to be
treated equally,” said Morgan Meneses-Sheets of Equality Maryland.
A majority of committee members,
including its chairman, have previously voiced their support for
marriage equality. However, the
measure remains four votes shy of passage in the Senate, where six
senators say they remain undecided.