Maryland introduces equal marriage bill
Maryland’s Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley introduced another bill this week which would lift the ban on gay marriage in the US state of Maryland.
O’Malley had campaigned in 2010 to secure his second term promise to work toward enacting marriage equality while in office.
A similar attempt in 2011 failed to pass through the state legislature, but attempts to introduce a constitutional ban on gay marriage have also failed.
The new bill is reported to contain carefully-worded protections for religious bodies who do not want to conduct marriage ceremonies between gay couples.
Speaking at a fund-raiser for Equality Maryland he said: “This is about making sure that every family in Maryland is able to raise their children in a loving and stable home, a home that is respected equally under the law.”
He added that he is “committed to expanding that circle of inclusion into those core fundamental beliefs that unite us as a people.”
“Even people that do not yet agree with us on this issue, there’s a lot of goodness in each and every individual, and we need to engage in that goodness. We need to call people to that goodness. We need to call people together in the centre of that circle that makes us a great state — that makes us a great country — because we believe in the dignity of every individual, and we believe in the advancement of the greater good.”
