Maryland Delegate Heather Mizeur said
Friday that she and her wife, Deborah Mizeur, are among the thousands
heartbroken over Friday's
defeat of a gay marriage bill.
The effort to make Maryland the sixth
state to legalize the institution ended on Friday.
After nearly three hours of passionate
debate, the House decided to return the bill to committee,
effectively killing the effort for this year.
“Today, the House of Delegates
recommitted marriage equality legislation to committee,” Mizeur
said in an email to supporters. “Tomorrow, we must recommit
ourselves to the hard work of protecting our families without
marriage to back us up.”
Mizeur was among the chamber's seven
openly gay delegates urging colleagues on Friday to approve the
measure.
“It's love that makes a family, but
it's marriage that protects it,” Mizeur, who legally married
Deborah 5 years ago, told
lawmakers. “Do the right thing: cast your vote in favor of
love.”
In her email, Mizeur added that she and
her wife were heartbroken: “Deborah and I are among the more than
15,000 families in our state that are heartbroken. Just years ago,
we had to fight with all our might to secure basic protections for
our families. Today, we came within votes of full marriage
equality.”