From The Capital

Lawmakers fight same-sex suit

Vaishali Honawar, Staff Writer

September 3, 2004

Three county lawmakers are trying to intervene in an ACLU lawsuit challenging Maryland law on the definition of marriage.
Sen. Janet Greenip, R-Crofton, Del. Herb McMillan, R-Annapolis, and Del. Don Dwyer, R-Glen Burnie, are among seven Republicans and one Democrat who filed a motion to intervene in the Baltimore Circuit Court this week in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of nine same-sex couples, none from Anne Arundel County, who claim that Maryland law defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman is unconstitutional.

"The issue we are arguing is that gay marriage is something that elected representatives of the people should decide, and not the courts," Mr. McMillan said.

In July, Anne Arundel Circuit Court Clerk Robert Duckworth, a Republican candidate for Congress, filed a similar motion in the Baltimore court.

The state's attorney general later said Mr. Duckworth could not become a party in the lawsuit because the attorney general represents him on the issue.

Mr. McMillan said he and other lawmakers were spurred into filing the motion because of the attorney general's opinion.

"The attorney general's own words indicate he does not share our point of view," he said.

Mr. Duckworth added that his motion remains alive. "It isn't over until it's over," he said.

A third motion to join the lawsuit also has been filed in Baltimore by an individual.

Gay rights supporters characterized the latest motion filed by legislators
as just another attempt by conservatives to block them out.

"It is insane that a group of far-right legislators believe that their opinion supersedes the Maryland constitution," said Dan Furmansky of Equality Maryland, an advocacy group that worked with ACLU to bring the lawsuit.

"We are trying to give people protection and they are trying to take it away," he said.

Mr. Dwyer, who had earlier this year sent letters to the Maryland and Massachusetts attorney general protesting gay marriages and civil unions, called this "yet another example of a special interest group using the courts to circumvent our republican form of government."

Mr. Furmansky said that if the legislature were doing its job, they would not have had to take recourse to the courts.

Last year, the group lobbied for a bill to give hospital visitation rights to gay partners. But while the House passed it, the Senate turned it down.

David Rocah, an attorney for ACLU, called the three motions "meaningless."

"The fact that these people are seeking to intervene has no bearing on the merits of the lawsuit," he said.

The only Democrat named in the motion, Del. Emmet C. Burns, of Baltimore County, introduced an unsuccessful bill this year that would have prohibited Maryland from recognizing same sex marriages performed outside the state.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Leis contributed to this report.