WHETHER TO SIGN the Medical Decision Making Act of 2005 shouldn't have been a tough call on the merits for Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). The bill, passed by the General Assembly this year, is the kind of gay rights measure that even opponents of gay marriage ought to welcome -- a recognition that unmarried couples exist, love one another and make key decisions during illness and death. Mr. Ehrlich had expressed sympathy with the bill's purpose. Yet the politics that surround gay rights are fierce, and Mr. Ehrlich's conservative base opposes the bill aggressively. Earlier last week, Mr. Ehrlich's aides were talking about problems with the bill. By Friday, he had caved and vetoed it, saying it would "open the door to undermine the sanctity of traditional marriage."
The bill would allow unmarried couples -- same-sex and straight -- to register with the state health department as life partners. It would guarantee registered partners basic rights when one is ill, dying or dead. They would have the ability to visit one another in hospitals, to make medical decisions when the other is unable to do so (and has not separately designated a decision maker), to authorize autopsies and to make funeral arrangements. In emergency situations, the bill would also ensure visitation rights to unregistered life partners.
Mr. Ehrlich's aides said earlier in the week that despite his sympathy for the goal, he had policy concerns about the bill. For one thing, Joseph M. Getty, the governor's policy and legislative director, explained in an interview, the bill promises more than it delivers in the way of actual control over making medical decisions. But in a radio interview yesterday, Mr. Ehrlich made clear that his primary objection was that the bill created a formal status for same-sex life partnerships. "It is the predicate to domestic partnerships, which is the predicate to gay marriage," Ehrlich said, while also suggesting that he would push legislation of his own to address the problem. "I'm going to protect marriage. . . . It's not debatable."
In other words, better to let couples in lifelong relationships be barred from the hospital rooms where their partners are sick or dying than to legitimize same-sex couples. This is not a reasonable response to an intolerable situation. The General Assembly should make this clear by overriding Mr. Ehrlich's action.
