From The Daily Banner

Local Couple has Joined Lawsuit

by Richard Kendall

July 13, 2004

CAMBRIDGE - Ryan Killough, 30, and Steven Palmer, 32, are paramedics for the city of Cambridge. They are also plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in Baltimore by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The case, Deane and Polyak vs. Conaway, will ask the Maryland Courts to determine the constitutionality of denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Nine couples, including Mr. Killough and Mr. Palmer, and one widowed man make up the body of plaintiffs in the case.

"The main thing I want people to understand is that we don't want any special rights, just equality," Mr. Killough said on Monday. "And, I would like people to know we are just like everyone else. We are not weird or bad people."

From the time he was 12 years old, Ryan Killough realized that he was not interested in the opposite sex. With his parents divorced, young Ryan, born in Elkton, moved to Dorchester County when he was 8 years old.

Steven Palmer grew up in Somerset County. He says that it was when he reached puberty that he realized that he was a homosexual.

Mr. Palmer, a registered nurse, is employed at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center, in Salisbury in addition to working part time as a paramedic for the city of Cambridge. It was at their work place in Cambridge that the two met in 1995.

Then, in 1998, they both found each other at a gay nightclub in Rehoboth Beach.

What followed was a committed relationship, the purchase of a house, near East New Market, three cars and a boat.

In January, 2004, they joined Equality Maryland, a gay, lesbian and transgender civil rights organization.

In March, the director of Equality Maryland, Daniel Furmansky, asked the couple if they would speak at a town meeting concerning equal rights for gays, to be held at Salisbury University.

"About 100 people attended the meeting," Mr. Ryan said. "Soon after that, were asked if we would be interested in being plaintiffs in the proposed lawsuit."

"In June, the day we were leaving for a weeklong vacation in Florida, the phone rang," Mr. Killough said. "We had been chosen as plaintiffs."

"No reasoned argument exists for our state to deny fundamental constitutional guarantees to gay and lesbian Marylanders simply because of who we love," said Executive Director Dan Furmansky via the Equality Maryland website. "It is simply not acceptable that some Marylanders don't have the right to visit their loved ones in the hospital, or that some children in this state, because they have two parents of the same gender, are left without the same security and protections as other children."

On June 29, Steven Palmer walked into the Dorchester County Circuit Court and requested to apply for a marriage license at the office of the clerk of the court.

"I was told that gay couples could not apply for marriage licenses," he said. This refusal set the groundwork for Dorchester County to join Prince George's, Washington, St. Mary's and Baltimore City as jurisdictions in Maryland that were sued.

As it stands now, according to Mr. Palmer, if he were to die before Mr. Killough, his share of their house and other property would go through probate and be directed to his parents.

There was also concern about not being able to make medical decisions for one another in the case of an emergency or to visit each other in the hospital under critical circumstances.

"Even if there was a legal will on file that was not contested by either family, the survivor would still have to pay the state inheritance taxes on our own property," Mr. Palmer noted.

In the meantime, the couple will be preparing legal wills and other legal documentation to formalize their wishes in the event of their death.

"We have gotten complete support and understanding from our friends, family and co-workers," Mr. Killough stated. "Everyone has been very understanding and supportive about what we are doing."

Non-support is what they heard from Senator Richard Colburn.

"We saw Sen. Colburn on TV the day the suit was filed," Mr. Palmer said, adding that they heard him oppose the suit. "We are not asking for special rights, but rather equal rights to what straight couples have," Mr. Palmer said.

Sen. Colburn (R-37) was contacted in his Federalsburg office on Monday.

"What I said was that this was an attempt by the ACLU to undermine the institution of marriage which predates government itself," Sen. Colburn said. "I think it is wrong to require businesses to provide gay couples with the same rights such as health coverage. The institution of marriage is defined in Maryland as a union between a man and a woman. That union has benefits to children and the community that gay couples cannot provide."

The lawsuit will be no quick fix to the issues that are of concern to Mr. Killough and Mr. Palmer.

"We have been told that there might not be a decision in the lower court before the end of the year," Mr. Killough said. "Then, if we lose, there will be an appeal to a higher court. It might be a few years before the case is settled.

"We want to stand up for the rights of others who are in this situation," Mr. Killough said. "But, we also want people to realize that we are just normal people and members of the community."

"Not long before we were born, it was illegal to marry in this state unless both persons were of the same race," Mr. Palmer said. "Forty years from now, people will probably be amazed that 40 years earlier, gay couples could not be married in this state."