Maryland Court Upholds Gay Marriage Ban

State's Highest Court's Ruling Ends Lawsuit By Same-Sex Couples Claiming Discrimination

(AP)  Maryland's highest court Tuesday upheld a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, ending a lawsuit filed by same-sex couples who claimed they were being denied equal protection under the law.

A divided Court of Appeals ruled that Maryland's 1973 ban on gay marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights, and that the state has a legitimate interest in promoting opposite-sex marriage.

The decision essentially sent the gay-marriage issue back to the legislature.

"Our opinion should by no means be read to imply that the General Assembly may not grant and recognize for homosexual persons civil unions or the right to marry a person of the same sex," Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. wrote for the four-judge majority, which also included Judges Dale R. Cathell, Clayton Greene Jr. and Alan M. Wilner.

Chief Judge Robert M. Bell and Judge Lynne A. Battaglia dissented. Judge Irma S. Raker wrote a separate dissent but also concurred with the majority, in part.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit were quick to condemn the ruling.

"I think history will hold them in contempt," plaintiff Lisa Polyak said of the judges. "To create a legal solution in a vacuum that doesn't recognize that the constitution is there to support the people is to create an ignorant and irrelevant solution."

But Delegate Don Dwyer, R-Anne Arundel, said the court was right to allow the legislature to decide the legality of gay marriage.

"I think it was the legitimate response," Dwyer said. "They did as other states have done and ordered the legislature to act."

Dwyer, one of the General Assembly's most conservative members, said he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, as he has three times in the past, "to make sure we have the insurance to make sure this will not come up again in the future."

The ACLU of Maryland, which provided legal representation for the plaintiffs, said the fight gay marriage in Maryland would continue.

Many of the plaintiffs have children, and they argue that their families are being denied the stability and legal protection that comes from having married parents.

Lisa Kebreau, 39, and her partner, Mikki Mozelle, 31, who live in Riverdale, have three children - ages 17, 2 and 20 months.

"We really wanted them to understand how normal and good their family is - that their family is just like any other family," Kebreau said.

Nine same-sex couples and a gay man whose partner died filed a lawsuit in 2004 against court clerks who denied their applications for marriage licenses. Baltimore Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock in January struck down the law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, but the state immediately appealed.

Murdock's ruling was put on hold during the appeal and never took effect - unlike in Iowa, where same-sex marriage was legal for less than 24 hours last month. Massachusetts is the only state where gay marriage is legal, but nine other states have approved spousal rights in some form for same-sex couples - California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

[sftodd]

Let''s see if Americans are stupid enough again to be distracted by Republican efforts to make the coming elections about gay marriage. Most americans would rather be unemployed, starving and without healthcare than to imagine two men happily married. I tremble for the future of this nation.

[grammawhamma]

singinrick...I am not the one throwing out post after post of bible verses here. You have your opinion and I have mine.

You said "I get so tired of hearing the old "Stop ramming your religious beliefs down people''''s throat" routine" Maybe it''s because you are guilty of it.

Then you say:
"It has nothing to do with "ramming one''''s religious beliefs" down people''''s throats GrammaWhamma, it has something to do with me being an American citizen and utilizing my rights of freedom of speech and freedom of expression, which include my right to speak out against what I feel, and what the majority of Americans still feel, is an immmoral lifestyle.

Again, your philosophy is "Shut up all the Christians, but let everyone else speak out for their beliefs"

And don''''t try to say otherwise.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by singinrick at 10:15 PM : Sep 18, 2007"

Excuse me...in the above you write about freedom of speech and then your last sentence to me is "And don''t try to say otherwise". Wow...the irony of it all!

God teaches love thy neighbor...I do (even if they are homosexuals)...do you??

[grammawhamma]

I see nothing wrong with two same gender people that love and respect each other raising childen. The children of a happy same gender family would not feel ashamed of it...only if close minded bigots make them feel that way.

Instead we should worry about the children whose parents are in a loveless marriage with constant fighting. Or the children whose single mom brings home boyfriends she barely knows and lets him watch her children and he turns out to be a molester and or murderer.

Singingrick...like someone else said...God will be the judge in the end...not you...so why are you so worried about it? Stop trying to ram your religious beliefs down every one''s throats. It is a turnoff. You catch more flies with honey then vinegar.

[Krazcarl]

WERE NOT TALKING RELIGION WERE TALKING STEVE AND STEVE AND JILL AND JILL EVERY *** TRIES TO THROW IN RELIGION TO HIDE ALL PERVERTS DO EVERY MOLESTER AND MISFIT HIDES IN CHURCH AND SAYS THEY HAVE TO BE FORGIVEN TO JUSTIFY THIER CRIME AND FIND HUMAN COMPANIONSHIP. I WAS RAISED IN THE CHUCH I KNOW. JUST BECUSE YOU LIKE SOMETHING DOSEN''T MAKE IT RIGHT. ONE THING I CAN''T STAND IS PERVERTS THAT HIDE BEHIND BIBLE VERSES.GO FORTH AND MULIPLY AND DON''T SPREAD YOUR SEED IN THE SAND.

[Joe posey]

my hat is off to the great state of maryland..well done!!

[susanhelit]

singinrick - by your quotes then, this law is very wrong, trying to impede freedom. But - in trying to create laws based on religion, you are indeed taking the first steps down the path of the Taliban, and so many other theocracies. Or if you''d like, look to the history of Europe, and see what happens when even Christianity becomes a part of government. It''s horrendeously ugly.

The founding fathers were determined - the United States would not fall into the same error. They wrote the constitution to help us avoid that. A law based on religion is quite simply unconstitutional and wrong.

[susanhelit]

We are not, and never were intended to be, a christian nation:

From the Treaty of Tripoli of 1797:

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;"


Passed the Senate, John Adams signed it, everybody read it, and nobody objected to it.

Thomas Jefferson:

I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."

"Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies."

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." [Letter to John Adams, April 11, 1823]

"This nation of ours was not founded on Christian principles." -John Adams

[susanhelit]

The United States was founded by deists, atheists, and christians, and who knows what else. Having seen the disaster that happens when religion and government mix, they deliberately made the United States a secular government.

If you believe gay marriage is immoral, don''t marry a person of the same ***! Otherwise, you are going against everything this country was founded on, our freedom of religion includes the freedom of people to have different (DUH) religious beliefs than you do.

[susanhelit]

What the bible says about homosexuality has zero relevance on what our government and laws should say. Absolutely zero. All our citizens, with their varied religious and philosophical beliefs should not be bound by guidelines in any religion. Unless, of course, you think the Taliban is right, and want a theocracy. Otherwise, if you want to make laws against homosexual marriage, find a reason other than, "the bible says so".

[michellem99-2009]

THIS NATION WAS FOUNDED BY FREE MASONS,WHITE MEN..THEIR SYBLES ARE THERE IF YER LOOK.
A SECRET GRUOP AND ONLY WHITE MEN ALLOWED..fmmigger that.
Gramma I like yer. WA is pretty but messed up. PLUS CAN''T MARRY FOR MONEY REASOMS AND HE AND I LIVE AS BROTHER AND SISTER THO NOT RELATED.

[my2centss]

Stop trying to get the courts to create new laws. They only interpret them according to the Constitution.

[my2centss]

We are a "democracy." Put it for a vote by the people of that state. The same as should be for all major issues. Then you have no one to blame but yourself for the outcome.

[michellem99-2009]

I WAS TOLD BE A CRIME TO MARRY AND REMAIN CHILDLESS. I READ IT. It will pass.. Why the church will see that it is passed. You know the christians..

[likeitis5050]

What I do not understand about this issue is exactly the same thing I do not understand about the abortion issue. Everyone yells about God being omnipotent and that only HE can judge so why do we care what other people choose to do with their bodies? If you believe that all comes from God and goes back to God, then each and every person is personally accountable to that God. If God is so powerful and all knowing why does he need our noses stuck up everyone''s a..ss to be sure they aren''t doing what He already has total control over? You can''t have it both ways...either He is in control or not. I figure everyone has enough to do keeping their own a..ss.es out of he11 to be telling anyone else they''re going to he11 if they don''t do as they do!

[michellem99-2009]

Gramma I live in WA State and it was in the news Feb 07.* MORE WASHINGTON NEWS /NWCW/NEWS FOR SEATTLE FEB 6 2007.* READ IT. I got something about the issue in the mail from the state. And because the g*ays raised a stink they said man and woman who marry MUST have a child with in 3 years or the marriage Is anllued. So there.

[tngreen]

If same-gender marriage is a sin in the eyes of God, then I recommend that God not marry somebody of the same gender. And let the rest of us exercise our free will. Or has that gone the way of our civil rights?

[jowand]

Go to a National Consumption Tax, dump the income tax, all of this *** and lesbians wanting to marry will go away. Follow the money trail.

[grammawhamma]

Michelle: You told me once before that in the state of Wa you could not get married unless you could have children. I looked it up and you are wrong. It was not a law that was ever passed...it was used as an example when your state voted on same *** marriages. Go look it up again...and then propose to your roommate.

[grammawhamma]

Michelle: You told me once before that in the state of Wa you could not get married unless you could have children. I looked it up and you are wrong. It was not a law that was ever passed...it was used as an example when your state voted on same *** marriages. Go look it up again...and then propose to your roommate.

[kansas1946]

It''''s got nothing to do with hating anyone, it has something to do with maintaining moral and ethical Judaeo-Christian principles that our country was founded upon. If you don''''t want to live in a Christian based country, move to an atheistic government type country where all sexual sin is consider morally acceptable. Then you won''''t have to worry about your bogus claim of laws based on "hate".
*******************************************
Sin has nothing to do with running a government. That is an arbitrary concept based on a particular set of religious beliefs. Even in the Christian community there is a wide varience on what is considered sin. Jehovas Wittnesses consider it a sin to get a blood transfusion. Do you want the courts preventing you from getting a blood transfusion because it is a sin?
Catholics consider it a sin if you don''t attend confession under certain guidelines. Do you want to be forced by the government to attend confession?
Just because you consider something a sin doesn''t mean that everyone does. Gay people getting married would not affect your life in the slightest, but the government not allowing them to marry affects their lives a great deal.
Our constitution, which is the law of our land is not based on Christianity. Many of the men who wrote it were not Christians. If you don''t agree with a secular society, then you can move to a theocracy like Iran and see how free you are to practice Christianity.