Maryland

Maryland highest court to rule on marriage equality
Lower court finds ban on same-sex marriages unconstitutional

States Facing Constitutional Amendments Banning Same-sex Marriage UU Involvement • California • Florida • Georgia • Maryland • Massachusetts • New York • Oregon • Virginia • Washington • Complete Freedom to Marry Coverage

Glenn Dehn (left) and UU Charles Blackburn (below) at podium with other plaintiffs.

Maryland may be the next state poised to change its marriage equality laws — and a Unitarian Universalist has played a key role in that effort.

In December 2006, the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, heard arguments in a case filed by nine same-sex couples who sought the right to marry. The case began in July 2004, when couples — including a Unitarian Universalist — sued city clerks in Baltimore and elsewhere after being denied marriage licenses.

Although there’s no word yet on when a decision can be expected, the cause of marriage equality received a boost earlier last year when a lower court agreed with the plaintiffs’ contention that the state’s constitution barred city clerks from discriminating against them based on sexual orientation.

Charles Blackburn, a UU minister, has helped draw media attention to the plight of same-sex couples across the state, by linking his work as a civil rights activist in the 1960s with the struggle gay men and women face today. The Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post have both written extensive profiles on Blackburn.

Judge M. Brooke Murdock of the Baltimore Circuit Court ruled on Jan. 20, 2006, that a 1973 law banning same-sex marriages, used as the basis for denying the marriage licenses, violated the state constitution. “Although tradition and societal values are important, they cannot be given so much weight that they alone will justify a discriminatory” law, Murdoch wrote.

Murdoch immediately stayed her order to give the state time to file an appeal in to the Court of Appeals.

After the Murdoch decision was issued, Rev. Keith Kron, director of the UUA's Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns, issued a statement to those UUs who had worked for the victory.

Maryland has been viewed as fertile ground for future marriage equality action. In recent years, its state courts granted gay couples the right to adopt children, and the electorate passed a 2001 law protecting gay people from discrimination.

Kenneth Y. Choe, the ACLU attorney for the Lesbian & Gay Rights Project who argued the case, had predicted that the case would end in the Court of Appeals. Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, whose office represents the county clerks who denied the licenses, said that while he would defend the law, he deemed it "appropriate that the issue, which has been framed as a matter of civil rights, be decided by the courts."

Background on the initial case: In July, 2004, nine same sex couples, including one Unitarian Universalist, brought suit in Baltimore Circuit Court against Baltimore City Clerk Frank Conaway and clerks in four other Maryland jurisdictions in order to gain the right to legally marry. This suit, supported by the American Civil Liberties Union, is also backed by Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, Inc. The suit contended that the state's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and should be overturned. One of the complainants, Rev. Charles Blackburn, is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and past president of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Baltimore.

On July 12, 2004, Takoma Park became the first jurisdiction in Maryland to formally support same-sex marriage, less than a week after the nine gay couples had sued the state for the right to wed. According to reports in The Washington Post, the City Council unanimously approved the measure, which also called on the city clerk to file an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit of the gay couples. The move is largely symbolic—only Maryland counties and the city of Baltimore can issue marriage licenses—but town officials wanted to register their support.

On January 20, 2006, Judge M. Brooke Murdock of the Baltimore Circuit Court ruled that barring same-sex couples from the freedom to marry was in violation of the state constitution.

Media Coverage:

• 1/23/06 - Gay Wired.com: Maryland Marriage Ruling a Major Step for Families
• 1/22/06 - Baltimore Sun: Marriage Equality (Editorial)
• 1/20/06 - National Public Radio: Maryland Judge Rejects Gay Marriage Ban by Barbara Bradley Haggerty
• 1/20/06 - The Associated Press (through MSNBC.com): Maryland Ban on Gay Marriage is Struck Down
• 7/15/04 - The Washington Post: Takoma Park Council Backs Same-Sex Unions: Symbolic Vote Is a First in MD by Amit R. Paley
• 7/8/04 - The Baltimore Sun: Lawsuit challenges state law barring same-sex marriage: Nine gay couples file suit that says statute violates Md. Constitution by Frank Langfitt

Charles Blackburn in the News:

• 12/4/06 - The Washington Post: As Md. Court Weighs Same-Sex Marriage, Plaintiffs Hear Echoes of Previous Fight by Mary Otto
• 11/28/2006 - The Baltimore Sun: Civil rights marcher sues for gay marriage by Stephen Kiehl
• Charles Blackburn and Glen Dehn’s “Freedom to Marry” profile.

For further information:

• To read more about the plaintiffs in this case, visit the ACLU website
• Read the text of this case, Deane and Polyak v. Conaway
• On July 13, 2004, the ACLU posted a Q&A on this case
• Equality Maryland offers extensive information on this case and on Freedom to Marry issues in Maryland.
• The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance offers additional helpful information.
• The Human Rights Campaign offers information on Maryland Legislation/Ballot Initiatives Affecting GLBT People

Archival Coverage from the UUA:

Additional Resources:

• "For Richer, For Poorer: Same-Sex Couples and the Freedom to Marry as a Civil Right" by Evan Wolfson. Drum Major Institute, June, 2003
• Marriage Equality Kit for Same-Sex Couples , from GLAAD
• "Why gay marriages just don't want to go away" By Frank Rich - The New York Times (published 3/1/04 in the Oakland Tribune)

Archival Coverage from the UUA:

• Comprehensive UUA.ORG Coverage of Freedom to Marry, for all People
• UUA President Opposes Call for Constitutional Amendment (2/22/04)
• Listing of UU ministers who will not sign marriage licenses until same sex couples are allowed to marry

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