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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

City Of Baltimore Passes Resolution In Support Of The Religious Freedom And Civil Marriage Protection Act


CONTACT:
Carrie Evans, Policy Director
Cell: (443) 514-4999
Email: Carrie@EqualityMaryland.org

Baltimore – With less than a month before the General Assembly adjourns, the Baltimore City Council became the fourth Maryland jurisdiction to pass a resolution supporting The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. Baltimore joins College Park, Kensington and Takoma Park in formally supporting the expansion of civil marriage to include same-sex couples. The Council passed the resolution by a 9-3-3 vote at its Monday meeting.

Recently elected Council Member Bill Henry introduced and shepherded this resolution through the Council. After the vote he observed, "Expanding civil marriage to include same-sex couples is the fair thing to do. I am proud of my colleagues who stood up for all of our families in Baltimore. I hope this resolution will nudge those state legislators from Baltimore who are not yet enthusiastically supporting this historic legislation to rethink their position."

One of the other 8 Council members supporting this resolution was Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The Council President is a strong ally for the freedom of same-sex couples to marry and recently submitted testimony in support of House Bill 351. In it she urged the House Judiciary Committee to pass this legislation. She said, "Marriage is a unique institution on many levels: religious, spiritual, and social. Marriage is also a civil institution that affords many economic and contractual benefits that are not afforded to people as individuals. I do not believe that people should be denied any of these rights just because they do not fall under the legal definition of marriage."

Voting for the resolution were Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Council Members Mary Pat Clarke, William Cole, IV, Belinda Conaway, Robert Curran, Nicolas D'Adamo, Jr., Bill Henry, Sharon Green Middleton and Ed Reisinger.

Voting against the resolution were Warren Branch, Rikki Spector and Bernard "Jack" Young.

Not voting for the resolution were Helen Holton (absent), Jim Kraft (absent) and Agnes Welch (abstained).

"As a Baltimorean it makes me very proud to have my City Council recognize the dignity of LGBT families. The arc continues in its bend toward fairness as elected officials across the state continue to find the personal and political courage to stand up for what they believe is right," commented Equality Maryland's Policy Director Carrie Evans.

Last week the resolution passed the City Council's Judiciary and Legislative Investigations Committee by a 3-0 vote. Chairman Jim Kraft made an impassioned speech before casting his decisive vote stating that sometimes a local body must act before the state on vital issues.

Of the 24 state legislators from Baltimore City, at least 11 have committed to voting for The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. They include Senators Lisa Gladden, Catherine Pugh and Nathaniel McFadden and Delegates Curt Anderson, Jill Carter, Hattie Harrison, Keith Haynes, Ruth Kirk, Maggie McIntosh, Sandy Rosenberg and Melvin Stukes.

Those not yet publicly supporting this legislation include Senators Joan Carter Conaway, George Della and Verna Jones and Delegates Talmadge Branch, Frank Conaway, Jr., Ann Marie Doory, Cheryl Glenn, Peter Hammen, Carolyn Krysiak, Brian McHale, Nathaniel Oaks, Barbara Robinson, Shawn Tarrant.

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Equality Maryland is Maryland's largest LGBT civil rights organization, focused on making life better for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens of Maryland. Equality Maryland works to secure and protect the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Marylanders by promoting legislative initiatives on the state, county and municipal levels and educating the public about the issues faced by our diverse community.