Maryland Court Upholds Gay Marriage Ban

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.