Democratic Maryland State Senator James
Brochin is giving gay marriage backers in the state another reason to
hope.
The
46-year-old sophomore senator told the Baltimore Sun that
he's reconsidering his position on a gay marriage bill. Brochin
previously said he was against the measure.
Nearly
200 people signed up to speak Tuesday at a Senate committee's public
hearing on Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola's bill that would
legalize gay marriage in the state. The hearing lasted nearly 7
hours.
Brochin said on Wednesday that he found
the testimony of opponents to be “troubling.”
“The demonization of gay families
really bothers me,” Brochin said. “Are these families going to continue to be treated by the law as
second class citizens?”
While a majority of committee members,
including its chairman, support marriage equality, the measure
remains four votes shy of passage in the Senate.
Brochin increases the number of
undecided senators from six to seven, greatly increasing the odds of
passage.
According to a Washington Post
survey, the following Democrats also remain on the fence: John
C. Astle, Joan Carter Conway, Ulysses Currie, Edward J. Kasemeyer,
Katherine A. Klausmeier and James C. Rosapepe.