From the City Paper

Best Unintentional Crusader for Gay Rights

Del. Don Dwyer Jr.

Del. Don Dwyer Jr. (R-31st District) says the darndest things. Like his comments after the American Civil Liberties Union filed its gay-marriage suit in Maryland: "They are going to regret bringing this battle to Maryland. . . . They are going to be black and blue from this battle." Nice. Or his November 2004 assertion that same-sex marriage "would be the end of moral and civil society." We also enjoyed his statement that making gay-bashing a hate crime "would punish citizens for simply living and expressing their religious beliefs." At least he's self-aware. In March he said: "I've been accused of spreading hate and fear among the churches throughout the state of Maryland. Guilty as charged."

So why are we toasting the gay-bashing Republican state delegate from Anne Arundel County? Because of his contributions, however unintentional, to gay rights in Maryland. The more Dwyer and his hate machine trash-talk gays and lesbians and advocates stomping all over their rights, the more everyone going for a voter base larger than die-hard Bible thumpers starts inching to the left. He's held rallies, tried to intervene in the ACLU's case, supported an "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" amendment to the Maryland Constitution, put out petitions to try and send gay-rights bills to referendum, and even showed movies of two guys kissing to little old ladies at churches. But his attempt to get in on the case failed, as did his amendment and his petitions. In fact, with the exception of giving newspapers some good sound bites and making a few of those little old ladies cry, he hasn't accomplished much of anything.

Instead, Dwyer seems to have propelled the gay-rights movement in Maryland forward, because nobody sensible wants to be associated with his George Wallace-like antics, prompting legislators to come out of the closet and others who were afraid to take a stand on gay rights to get off their asses. As a result four pro-gay-rights bills, several of which never made it out of committee in previous sessions, passed in both houses this year. Sure, Gov. Robert Ehrlich threw his veto whammy on two of them, but it's still progress. So as we wait for Maryland's Circuit Court to rule on whether gay marriage will be legal in the state, let's raise our glasses to Don Dwyer-if you weren't such a hateful ass, we might not have gotten this far.