Maryland’s Gay Marriage Law - Lippman, Semsker & Salb

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

GAY MARRIAGE

This means that while gay and lbian upl may marry the state, they nnot pel a church to rent facili to them for celebratn of their nuptials and they may not pel a prit, rabbi, mullah, or other relig lear to perform the upl who wed enjoy precisely the same rights as any other married upl. Combed wh our skill and experience the field of domtic relatns law, we are uniquely equipped to serve gay and lbian upl the creatn of relatnships, separatn and divorc, child ctody, property divisn, child and spoal support, and you have any qutns about your rights as a married uple Maryland, please let know.

By one vote, the urt l that same-sex marriage nnot be banned the Uned Stat and that all same-sex marriag mt be regnized natnwi, fally grantg same-sex upl equal rights to heterosexual upl unr the 1971, jt two years after the Stonewall Rts that unofficially marked the begng of the stggle for gay rights and marriage equaly, the Mnota Supreme Court had found same-sex marriage bans nstutnal, a precent which the Supreme Court had never challenged. As homosexualy gradually beme more accepted Amerin culture, the nservative backlash was strong enough to force Print Bill Clton to sign the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), prohibg the regnn of same-sex marriag at the feral level, to law 1996.

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn. ” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups.

GAY MARRIAGE TIMELE

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners. C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch. That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v. Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire. Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007.

For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal.

Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. BALTIMORE -- Seven gay upl Maryland rang the New Year wh weddg bells early Tuday, the first wave of nuptials sce voters the state backed the legalizatn of same-sex upl were "lawfully married" rather than pronounced "hband and wife" at the 12:30 a. "She wanted to make a statement to tell gay, lbian, transgenred upl that they're wele here, " said the mayor's prs secretary, Ian Brennan, of her same-sex upl marry first hours of lawVoters Maryland, Mae and Washgton state approved same-sex unns on Electn Day, beg the only stat to pass such a measure by popular of the 50 U.

6 vote "a remarkable achievement for Maryland" and weled iends and fai of the upl to wns history at the early-morng verage of gay marriage on "We are exced to open Cy Hall to host some of the first weddg ceremoni our great state, " Rawlgs-Blake said. Complete US verage on natn's hight urt said this month that would review a se agast a feral law that ni married same-sex upl the feral benefs that heterosexual upl also will look at a challenge to California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposn 8, which voters narrowly approved 2008.

”Opponents plan to prs the argument that allowg gay unns would not only unrme the stutn of marriage but also affect school curricula and ge upon relig liberti, even as supporters Maryland say they have gone to great lengths to protect agast law, champned by Gov. ”There has also been some movement natnally among Ain Amerin voters — a trend ls evint the Maryland poll — sce Obama’s announcement and the NAACP’s endorsement this year of same-sex a state where Ain Amerins make up a larger percentage of the electorate than anywhere outsi the Deep South, both sis Maryland have been heavily targetg black their televisn ads, proponents have featured black misters and civil rights lears, argug that allowg gay people to wed is the fair thg to do whether one personally approv or not.

"Jt as Hawaii's high urt seemed poised to allow same-sex marriag, gay activists have seen their visns of legal weddgs on the beach of Mi disappear as voters approved Constutnal Amendment 2, givg the legislature power to 'rerve marriage to oppose-sex upl. "Rabbis belongg to the biggt and most liberal branch of Judaism the Uned Stat have voted to regnise the partnerships of gay and lbian Central Conference of Amerin Rabbis, which is part of the Jewish Reform movement, has agreed to sanctn relig ceremoni for same-sex Print of the Conference, Rabbi Charl Kroloff, said that gay and lbian people served the regnn and rpect due to people created the image of God. "Before the lg [Supreme Court lg that laws makg gay sex a crime were unnstutnal], supporters the Hoe [US Hoe of Reprentativ] of a nstutnal amendment that would more formally rtrict marriage to the unn of a man and a woman were havg trouble attractg sponsors.

"A unty clerk issued marriage licens Friday to at least 15 gay upl, some of whom then exchanged vows outsi the urthoe, as more same-sex upl led up for a chance to tie the Mexi law f marriage as a ntract between ntractg parti but do not mentn genr.

24, 2004] while makg his most revealg public ments so far about the sexual orientatn of his gay his posn on the subject at a town hall meetg here, Cheney replied: 'Lynne and I have a gay dghter, so 's an issue that our fay is very faiar wh....

'In view of the substance and signifince of the fundamental nstutnal right to form a fay relatnship, ' he wrote, 'the California Constutn properly mt be terpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex upl as well as to oppose-sex upl.

Proposn 8 was the most expensive proposn on any ballot the natn this year, wh more than $74 ln spent by both measure's most fervent proponents believed that nothg ls than the future of tradnal fai was at stake, while opponents believed that they were fightg for the fundamental right of gay people to be treated equally unr the years ago, Californians voted 61% to fe marriage as beg only between a man and a California Supreme Court overturned that measure, Proposn 22, s May 15 cisn legalizg same-sex marriage on the grounds that the state Constutn required equal treatment of gay and lbian upl.