First, the good: Maryland is on the verge of legalizing gay marriage. Yay!
Two more state senators — Edward J. Kasemeyer and Katherine Klausmeier — announced this week that they will support same-sex marriage legislation, and Sen. James Brochin of Baltimore County said last week that he had switched from opposing the measure to supporting it. Those three Democrats bring the total of announced supporters of the bill up to 23, just one shy of the 24 necessary for passage.
Just one shy. Yay! It seems an inevitability for Maryland. Even an aggressive push back by homobigots might prove counterproductive. "Confronted with the contrast between the alarmist rhetoric of same-sex marriage opponents and the reality of healthy, stable families asking for nothing more than equal rights" Sen. Brochin was moved to support the legislation.
Now the bad news.
The Indiana house of representatives approved a constitutional ban on marriage equality Tuesday evening with a 70-26 vote.
The measure still has to go to the senate, but it is expected to pass there easily. Boo!
Legislation needs to survive another vote in either 2013 or 2014, and then go to the voters to make it into the constitution. Whether that will happen remains to be seen. Indiana lawmakers have made it pretty clear they don't like queers. Especially when you consider that Indiana had already banned gay marriage back in 1997.
But as the ban's author Eric Turner (R-Eprehensible) notes, a constitutional amendment is necessary to keep the state's courts from overturning that law.
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