From the Washington Blade

Plaintiff in Md. marriage case to run for office

by Katherine Volin

Friday, September 28, 2007

Last week's rejection of same-sex marriage by Maryland's highest court resulted in a serious setback for the case's plaintiffs, but one of them is channeling his disappointment with the judicial branch into legislative action.

Patrick Wojahn, who joined the lawsuit with his partner Dave Kolesar, is running for City Council in College Park, Md., he announced Wednesday.

"If I win, I will be College Park's only openly gay City Council member -- perhaps the first ever," Wojahn said in an e-mail announcement to friends about his decision.

After someone alerted Wojahn several weeks ago to the fact that the two City Council members in his district, District One, were retiring and suggested he run, Wojahn started considering it, he said.

"I was mulling it over for a couple of days and then the [Maryland Court of Appeal's] decision came down and at that point the decision helped spur me to do it," Wojahn said. "In part I decided that as an openly gay man and being visible with my partner, I wanted to serve as an example for our community -- and I wanted to live a life of community service."

Three others are running for the District One seats that John Krouse and Dave Milligan are vacating due to retirement. Elections will be held Nov. 6 for the eight City Council member positions as well as for mayor.