The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, in a big hurry to get O’Malley’s gay marriage bill passed before anyone changes their mind, voted the bill out of committee and will be blocking efforts to amend it. If it is amended, it would return to the House of Delegates where it very nearly failed last week.
Below is the Hagerstown Herald Mail on the story:
Maryland senators are unlikely to approve any amendments to a bill legalizing gay marriage, worried that if it heads back to the House of Delegates, it could be in trouble because the vote to pass it there was so close.
Members of the state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee rejected two changes to the bill Tuesday, and proponents say they plan to do the same when the measure reaches the chamber floor later this week.
“A little bit of Wite-Out is the guillotine here. Don’t touch the bill if you support it,” Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, told committee members before they shot down changes that would have legalized civil unions and overruled an amendment made in the House last week.
The committee’s 7-4 vote — identical to one last year on a similar bill — moves the legislation to the full Senate, which is expected to take a final vote soon.
If it passes, both supporters and oponents expect the bill to be decided in a referendum in November.
There is more, read on.
Del. Neil Parrott is already gearing up to put a petition drive in place to allow the voters to decide this important issue at the ballot box—making for one more reason to get out the conservative vote in November.
Richard Falknor, writing at Blue Ridge Forum has a good post today on what this all means, here.
And, the Huffington Post has an article about Republican Del. Wade Kach and how he says he came to change his mind and vote for gay marriage. The Dick Cheney surrogate supposed phone call sounds fishy to me. Others have posited that he was offered a job by Governor O’Malley in exchange for his vote. I don’t know if that has been confirmed.
Ann Corcoran
Judy K. Warner
Potomac Tea Party Report 
It is what it is. All my delegates voted for it. I made the case, but they wanted to take a walk on the wild side. It’s all about socialism and “equality” They have a warped view of freedom, and very short-sighted perspective about where all this will lead. Some battles have to be fought, and this is the line for me.
Here’s what I wrote:
I understand a bill is pending in the General Assembly that would officially sanction a new category of same-sex “marriage.” I’m writing to urge your vote AGAINST this bill. The problems with this legislation are many, since what is involved is creation of a new protected “right” that is as irrational as it is unnatural. It would pervert and cheapen the important social and moral value of traditional marriage and family, which is the natural basic unit of any civil society. The enclosed statement highlights some important aspects of the issue.
You will doubtless hear arguments from bill proponents who claim a right to “equality” for the special class of “gender-alternative” people, such as “gay” and “lesbian.” You will also hear a claim that they are born that way, rather than male or female, and so they deserve special government protection.
In fact, the current law provides “equality” for all to marriage in the same way. Passing this law would therefore, in effect, create a new class of “gender-alternative” people, who would then seek to expand their new protected “right” by imposing it aggressively on all in society by the force of government sanction.
One problem is who or what agency will officially determine who are members of this class. For example, does everyone get to identify their own gender? If so, men could choose to use the bathroom and shower facilities for women at public schools, or perhaps force schools and other public facilities to construct a special “uni-sex” bathroom. Government forms could no longer ask “gender” questions, or perhaps add a separate category for “other” There would arise an increasingly aggressive “civil rights” movement with law suits for discrimination allowed for anyone who spoke out against homosexual behavior. Public school curriculum would need to re-write their text books and mention homosexual behavior as acceptable and normal (thereby, forcing parents to subject their children to a viewpoint that is contrary to their deeply held religious and moral values). Gender-specific sports teams would become open and inclusive to all, regardless of gender, or, more likely abolished altogether. Schools seeking an enrollment of “all boys” or “all girls” would be prohibited as discriminatory. Any opposition to this agenda might then be classed as “hate-speech” and therefore suppressed by government sanction.
For these reasons, and those contained in the attached statement on the subject, I urge you to vote against any same-sex “marriage” bill that may come to your attention.
We move on to the petition; and add that to the “Dream” act. These issues should certainly stir up voter interest, just in case the small matter of the future of our country with the election of president isn’t enough.
By: Lee on February 22, 2012
at 11:16 am
“Well, let me say, first of all, what type of laws we are not after, because there has been much to-do that the [Mattachine] Society was in favor of the legalization of marriage between homosexuals, and the adoption of children, and such as that, and that is not at all factual at all. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that’s what he wants” — Gay Rights Activist Richard Inman, 1966
Need more proof that legalizing homosexual marriage is just another stepping stone along the path to destroying Western culture?
By: Paul Mendez on February 22, 2012
at 4:02 pm