Bu Nan Hunter -
The 2011 session of the Maryland legislature starts Wednesday, and it may well lead to another state's legalization of same-sex marriage before adjournment three months later, on April 11. The game changer, according to the Washington Post, is that a majority of members of the Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee have publicly committed to voting for a same-sex marriage bill.
The Republican minority in the State Senate is likely to filibuster a marriage bill, but the Senate president (a conservative Dem who opposes it) has said he would bring the bill to a floor vote. Advocates believe that they have enough votes in the House of Delegates to pass a marriage equality bill, and Governor Martin O'Malley has said he will sign it.
But - and this is a big but - Maryland law allows residents to petition for a ballot question as to recently passed laws. A successful signature drive would put a new marriage law on hold, pending the results of a statewide referendum in November 2012.
for more from Nan visit Hunter for Justice.
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The Republican minority in the State Senate is likely to filibuster a marriage bill, but the Senate president (a conservative Dem who opposes it) has said he would bring the bill to a floor vote. Advocates believe that they have enough votes in the House of Delegates to pass a marriage equality bill, and Governor Martin O'Malley has said he will sign it.
But - and this is a big but - Maryland law allows residents to petition for a ballot question as to recently passed laws. A successful signature drive would put a new marriage law on hold, pending the results of a statewide referendum in November 2012.
for more from Nan visit Hunter for Justice.
-end-
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