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As Md. Court Weighs Same-Sex Marriage, Plaintiffs Hear Echoes of Previous Fight
Charles Blackburn, standing, and his partner, Glen Dehn, are among nine couples suing Maryland for the right to marry. The case is scheduled to be heard by Maryland's highest court today.
(By Michael Robinson Chavez -- The Washington Post)
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In Maryland, Blackburn, Dehn and the other plaintiffs who have applied for and been denied marriage licenses throughout the state say they are not asking for the creation of a new right, just the chance to share in one that has been fundamental for heterosexuals.
Blackburn compares this suit for real marriage -- as opposed to some form of civil union -- as akin to breaking down segregation in the nation's schools.
"The schools could not be separate without being inherently unequal," said the veteran civil rights campaigner, sitting in the home he and Dehn have carefully restored in Baltimore's Bolton Hill neighborhood.
He acknowledged that some people become angry when gay men and lesbians liken their struggle for equality to that of blacks. Blackburn was listening to a radio talk show on gay rights recently when a caller complained about such comparisons.
"I'm black every day of my life. They can hide," the caller said.
"But why should 'they' have to?" Blackburn asked in response. "We're not saying we've suffered as long, or as much. But we have rights that need to be defended."
The way Blackburn sees it, a person compelled to live in a closet of secrecy also suffers the effects of segregation. "The closet is a very fearful place, a very lonely place. You are living a lie," he says. "It eats you up inside."
In addition to the intangible benefits, marriage also confers such rights as spousal immigration benefits, hospital visitation privileges and the right to inherit property. Among the plaintiffs is a lesbian couple forced to live separately because of immigration law. After another plaintiff lost his longtime partner to suicide, he also lost the home they had shared. Others in the suit have been denied the ability to extend insurance coverage to their partners and children.
More than 15,000 same-sex couples live in Maryland, and between a quarter and a third of them are raising children, according to the Baltimore-based Advocates for Children and Youth.
As they have grown older together, Blackburn and Dehn have gotten specialized help in estate planning. But they are still haunted by concerns about issues such as medical decision making or being separated in a nursing home.
"We have heard of this happening to two old guys at the very end," Blackburn said.
Attorneys for the state are not speaking about their case until after today's oral arguments. But in briefs filed in November, they laid out their case.
