THIS SUCKS -
We Bombarded the Senate offices with mature, diplomatic, and intelligent calls, messages, and correspondence for days and weeks. I called the Senate President's office, as well as two other Reps that had been supportive in the past and that we were counting on to help make this happen.
Makes me want to scream and cry and shout to the sky - Another Year
ANOTHER YEAR to WAIT
My GOD - as if people actually had the time to wait around for others to have the simple basic realization of using their power within politics to simply grant the wisdom of equal rights for all of our citizens - What a total suck job. Please jump into the fight if you are here in Maryland. We could use your help.
Sincerely,
Annagirl
FROM EQUALITY MARYLAND:
SENATE JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS COMMITTEE VOTES DOWN TRANS EQUALITY LEGISLATION
In a deeply disappointing defeat, the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee voted today 6-5 to kill legislation that would have prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression.
Senate Bill 516, sponsored by Sen. Lisa Gladden (D-Baltimore), was opposed by all Republicans on the committee, as well as Democratic Senator Norm Stone of Baltimore County, who had earlier indicated to a fellow Senator that he would consider supporting the bill. The vote that killed the bill, however, was Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's County), whose district covers the Ft. Washington/Camp Springs area. Sen. Muse committed to supporting the measure on a number of occasions to Equality Maryland lobbyists, and also expressed his support to the head of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, who came to testify for the measure. It's not uncommon for Senate leadership to orchestrate the defeat of a bill for which there would otherwise be sufficient support for passage.
Equality Maryland is devastated that this crucial civil rights legislation will not become law in 2007. We will continue our important work across Maryland to educate people on the lives of transgender individuals and the difficulties we face with discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. And we will return in 2008 stronger than ever to pass this long overdue measure.
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PARTY FOR EQUALITY
EQMD Seeking House Party Hosts! We need YOU to help us prepare for the upcoming Court of Appeals ruling!
Winning marriage equality can be as easy as staying home. That's right, staying home. EQMD is launching Countdown to Marriage in April and we need your help. We are looking for 75 house party hosts from every region in the state.
Help educate Marylanders about marriage equality, learn about the behind-the-scenes plans for decision day and simple ways to participate and to help raise money to help us get marriage for same-sex couples in Maryland
To be a host, you only need:
- A place to have the party
- Friends, family or co-workers to invite
- A commitment to achieving marriage equality and defeating discriminatory constitutional amendments
Now is the time, we are so close to marriage and we need you to take us over the top. EQMD staff will help you plan and execute you house party, so don't be shy contact Sara Ryan at
Sara@equalitymaryland.org or 301 587 7500 to sign up.
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EVENTS
LOBBY TO REPEAL "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"
Monday March 26
Washington DC
Join Servicemembers Legal Defense Network to call on Congress to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell!" Hundreds of supporters will be converging on Capitol Hill to visit every Congressional office in a single morning. Your participation can make a big difference! Register here:
http://ga1.org/sldn/events/lobbyday07/details.tcl. Contact Jill Raney with questions at
jlr@sldn.org.
Howard County PFLAG Panel Discussion on LGBT Parented Families
Co-Sponsored by COLAGE and EQMD
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007, 7:30 PM
Owen Brown Interfaith Center
7246 Cradlerock Way
Columbia, Md. 21045
Have you wondered what its like to have an LGBT parent? What are the real experiences of LGBT families- both the parents and the children in them? What have they encountered in the schools? While shopping? What has been reaction of family members? Neighbors? Co-workers? Has it strengthened or diminished the relationship? What are the many ways that LGBT families are created?
These questions and many others will be discussed. Youth and adults with LGBT Parents are warmly welcome to attend!
This Panel will also include a screening of the COLAGE Youth Produced Film- In My Shoes: Stories of Youth with LGBT Parents. This 30 minute documentary was created BY youth to profile the experiences of youth with LGBT parents.
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In the News
MD Legislature Kills Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Traditional Marriage Isn't as Straightforward as All That
Dwyer Battles Against Same-Sex Education
InBetween Days: Baltimore's Transgender Population
Looking After Maggie's Farm
EQMD SUCCEEDS IN KILLING DEL. DWYER'S ANTI-GAY CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted to defeat a constitutional amendment that would ban marriage rights for same-sex couples. The amendment, proposed by Del. Don Dwyer (R-Anne Arundel), was killed on a 12-8 vote. All Republicans voted for the measure. All but two Democrats, Kevin Kelly (D-Cumberland) and Gerron Levi (D-Bowie), voted against the measure. While Del. Kelly has voted consistently against LGBT equality during his long tenure as a legislator, Del. Levi, of Prince George's County, is a new member of the House of Delegates.
You can express your disappointment to Del. Levi with an email. Please use a measured tone in your remarks so that Del. Levi in the future will be convinced to join other legislators who once supported these anti-gay amendments but later realized the error of their ways.
EQMD's lobbyists and staff convened an impressive array of individuals to testify in opposition to the measure. Conversely, the supporters of the amendment used phrases such as "not a part of nature," "outside of the laws of the universe," and "counter to God's design." One person actually went so far as to accuse gays and lesbians of being more likely to molest children, a falsity countered by numerous studies. One individual even compared allowing same-sex couples to legally marry to allowing someone to cannibalize another human being!
In the end, the poise, grace, and compelling testimony of those speaking against the amendment was stratospheres above those who spouted religious intolerance and moral superiority.
Many of the legislators on the committee, from Vice Chair Del. Sandy Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City) to Del. Susan Lee (D-Montgomery County), brilliantly called out the anti-gay zealots testifying for the bill.
Equality Maryland endorsed candidate, Del. Ben Barnes (D-Laurel) called out a lawyer who intimated that the equal protection clause of the Maryland Constitution doesn't apply to LGBT people because no court has found us to be a suspect class.
Del. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Chevy Chase) repeatedly challenged a Baptist conference leader about his interpretation of Leviticus, citing passage after passage about other biblical "abominations," and asking the clergy member if he would support a bill to ban the consumption of shellfish, or the wearing of clothing of two different fabrics.
Del. Todd Schuler (D-Baltimore County), whose district is moderately conservative on social issues, bravely stood up in committee to say that the amendment was simply wrong-headed, and that would be voting against it.
Del. Luiz Simmons (D-Montgomery County) used his strong legal background to call out the witnesses who clamored for a "popular vote" on the issue, saying that the idea that every issue of contention in the General Assembly should go to a public referendum was silly.
Del. Victor Ramirez (D-Prince George's) agreed, saying that the legislators are there to give a voice to the people, and those who elected the legislators know their positions on issues such as the proposed amendment.
Please take a moment to thank these legislators for speaking out against intolerance.
Del. Frank Conaway, Jr., of the heavily gay populated Mt. Vernon neighborhood in Baltimore, voted to kill the anti-gay measure following a period of indecision. Please thank Del. Conaway for his pro-civil rights vote.
Excerpts from Testimony Before the House Judiciary Committee:
"When my son or his partner is sick do they care less for each other than they would if they were a man and a woman? When one was hospitalized did the other worry less than he would have if they were a man and a woman? When one, decades from now, dies before the other will the survivor grieve any less copiously than he would if his beloved was a woman? The answer to these questions is as plain as anything I have seen or known in the nine decades I have been privileged to witness. It is as plain as the basic respect that we owe to one another if we hope to continue to live in a civil society." 88-year-old Bernice Melov, of Takoma Park, speaking about the love shared by her son, Steve, and son-in-law, Al, with whom she has lived for the past 21 years.
"To be succinct, any act of discrimination against one group is an act of discrimination against us ALL. The fact that legislators in this great state have brought forward this legislation is also of deep concern because of Maryland's historic, and shameful, past when the state participated in legislative bigotry and discrimination towards Blacks, Asians, other people of color and gays." Elbridge James, Chair - Political Action Committee, Maryland State NAACP
"Justice seeks to eliminate marginalization for reasons of race, gender, sexual orientation or economic status. HB 919, the proposed constitutional amendment, seeks to marginalize. In the United Church of Christ we encourage our clergy to exercise their good conscience when it comes to marriage. The denomination does not tell our pastors whom they should or should not marry. Neither should the state." Rev. Dr. John R. Deckenback, Conference Minister, Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ
"I have performed hundreds of marriages and I long ago came to realize that marriage should never be defined simply as a relationship between a man and a woman who have the benefit of a license issued by the state. These do not make a marriage. We all know couples who fit this description but are hardly in what can be described as a marriage. Marriage is about a relationship between two people who agree to love and cherish each other, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part. Your amendment misses this point completely." Peter K. Nord, Executive Presbyter, The Presbytery of Baltimore
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