As you may have heard, earlier today the House 
Judiciary Committee voted to kill HB 90 by a vote of 12 to 8. HB 90 is the DOMA bill that would have prohibited recognition of same-gender marriages from other states. It was designed to pre-empt the long-awaited opinion on this issue which I requested of Attorney General Doug Gansler last May. Surprisingly, there was no debate on the bill.
The twelve votes to kill the bill (votes FOR equal recognition of same-sex marriages) were cast by Democratic Delegates Samuel Rosenberg, Jeff Waldstreicher, Kathleen Dumais, Susan Lee, Jill Carter, Todd Schuler, Victor Ramirez, Benjamin Kramer, Kris Valderrama, Frank Conaway, Curt Anderson and Luiz Simmons.
Those voting against marriage recognition were Delegates Kevin Kelly (D-Cumberland) and Gerron Levi (D-Bowie), with the remaining “nay” votes cast by Republican Delegates J.B. Jennings, Don Dwyer, Susan McComas, Michael Smigiel, Tony McConkey and William Frank.
Two members did not vote including one, Delegate Ben Barnes (D-College Park), the lead sponsor of the Marriage Equality bill, who had a scheduling conflict. Thus, this vote demonstrates that we have 13 solid votes for equality on this key committee. I was also very pleased that my District 18 colleague on the committee, Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher, was a leader in the effort to kill this bill.
However I am concerned that the fight on out-of-state marriage recognition is far from over. We are still awaiting the Attorney General’s opinion. Should it be favorable, I am certain that our opponents will pull every trick they can think of to get the DOMA back into the picture. We will need to keep up the pressure to make sure that every attempt to bring up the DOMA is resisted.
You can help do your part by attending Equality Maryland’s Lobby Day in Annapolis this Monday, February 8 and letting your legislators know that you expect them to vote against any motion that would undo the Attorney General’s hopefully positive decision.
Along with ten of my colleagues, I submitted today the gender identity antidiscrimination bill which will be formally introduced on Friday. The rally will also focus on support for this important and long-overdue measure.
Thank you for your continued commitment to equality.
Rich
Judiciary Committee voted to kill HB 90 by a vote of 12 to 8. HB 90 is the DOMA bill that would have prohibited recognition of same-gender marriages from other states. It was designed to pre-empt the long-awaited opinion on this issue which I requested of Attorney General Doug Gansler last May. Surprisingly, there was no debate on the bill.The twelve votes to kill the bill (votes FOR equal recognition of same-sex marriages) were cast by Democratic Delegates Samuel Rosenberg, Jeff Waldstreicher, Kathleen Dumais, Susan Lee, Jill Carter, Todd Schuler, Victor Ramirez, Benjamin Kramer, Kris Valderrama, Frank Conaway, Curt Anderson and Luiz Simmons.
Those voting against marriage recognition were Delegates Kevin Kelly (D-Cumberland) and Gerron Levi (D-Bowie), with the remaining “nay” votes cast by Republican Delegates J.B. Jennings, Don Dwyer, Susan McComas, Michael Smigiel, Tony McConkey and William Frank.
Two members did not vote including one, Delegate Ben Barnes (D-College Park), the lead sponsor of the Marriage Equality bill, who had a scheduling conflict. Thus, this vote demonstrates that we have 13 solid votes for equality on this key committee. I was also very pleased that my District 18 colleague on the committee, Delegate Jeff Waldstreicher, was a leader in the effort to kill this bill.
However I am concerned that the fight on out-of-state marriage recognition is far from over. We are still awaiting the Attorney General’s opinion. Should it be favorable, I am certain that our opponents will pull every trick they can think of to get the DOMA back into the picture. We will need to keep up the pressure to make sure that every attempt to bring up the DOMA is resisted.
You can help do your part by attending Equality Maryland’s Lobby Day in Annapolis this Monday, February 8 and letting your legislators know that you expect them to vote against any motion that would undo the Attorney General’s hopefully positive decision.
Along with ten of my colleagues, I submitted today the gender identity antidiscrimination bill which will be formally introduced on Friday. The rally will also focus on support for this important and long-overdue measure.
Thank you for your continued commitment to equality.
Rich
Yay! Score one for the good guys!
ReplyDelete