Dueling bills affecting the prospects for same-sex couples to get married in Maryland were filed this week in the House of Delegates — and both are scheduled for a hearing next week.
One bill, sponsored by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), would legalize gay nuptials. It has 56 co-sponsors.
Michael E. Busch (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post)The most notable of those: House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel). Busch’s name was not on a bill that failed last year in his chamber, but he says he has since “evolved” on the issue. He came around to champion last year’s bill toward the end of the 90-day session. In recent days, the Speaker has been fairly outspoken about his views.
The other bill, sponsored by Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. (R-Anne Arundel), seeks to enshrine in the state Constitution Maryland’s current law restricting a marriage to one man and one woman.
Del. Don H. Dwyer Jr. during a judiciary committee hearing in 2011. (Photo by Mark Gail/The Washington Post) Perhaps the most notable of the 46 co-sponsors of Dwyer’s bill: Del. Melvin L. Stukes (D-Baltimore).
Last year, Stukes was a co-sponsor of a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage.
Stukes has since said he was under the mistaken impression that bill would have allowed civil unions. He also was among those who voiced offense at recent comments by Maryland’s first lady, Catherine Curran O’Malley, in which she called opponents of last year’s bill “cowards.”
Both pieces of legislation are scheduled next Friday for a joint hearing by the House Judiciary Committee and the House Health and Government Operations Committee.
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