There is a bill before the Maryland State Legislature to allow same sex marriage. On Friday, March 11, 2011, this bill was withdrawn from consideration due to the unlikelihood of the bill being passed by the state legislature. The law was titled the Civil Marriage Protection Act. For the past few weeks, the bill sponsors have been claiming that Maryland would be the sixth state to pass a same sex marriage law. The sponsors’ difficulties have been increasing in recent days.
The National Organization for Marriage and The Family Research Council both opposed this bill. They claim that African Americans and religious opponents were the reason for the defeat of the bill. They stated that particular thanks must go to African American pastors, church members and delegates who spoke out against the attempted highjacking of the concept of civil rights.
The bill supporters hoped to obtain full marriage rights similar to those that exist in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut and the District of Columbia. They were not interested in a civil union statute, which they claim was a watered down version of what they wanted. For now, gays can’t marry in Maryland.
We are divorce lawyers. For more than 45 years, we have represented clients concerning issues involving divorces, divorce grounds, family law matters, orders of protection, child custody, child abuse, child neglect, separation agreements, annulments, division of property in divorce, amicable divorce, fathers’ rights, mothers’ rights, mediation and pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements.
We also represent individuals married in other states who are seeking divorces in New York. Same sex relationships involve many of the same issues that heterosexual divorce are involved with. Feel free to call us for a free consultation at 1-800-344-6431, 516-561-6645 or 718-350-2802.
