MD Dems Drop Same-Sex Marriage Bill
The New York Times reports:
Democratic lawmakers in Maryland on Friday failed to gather enough votes to pass a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry and withdrew it from consideration after hours of emotional debate, effectively killing the bill’s chances for passage this year.
The speaker of Maryland’s house, Michael E. Busch, said that the bill, the Civil Marriage Protection Act, had fallen short of the 71 votes required for passage and that Democrats had decided to withdraw it, instead of allowing a vote that would fail.
“This is a distance run, not a sprint,” Mr. Busch said. “We’ll come back next year and take a strong look at it.”
For weeks, the bill’s passage was thought to be assured. Maryland’s House is overwhelmingly Democrat — 98 out of 141 members, more than enough to pass the bill over Republican opposition. But the closer it got to a final vote, the bumpier its path became, with a number of Democrats from districts with strong religious constituencies saying they would vote against it.
Two of its co-sponsors, Tiffany Alston of Prince George’s County and Melvin Stukes of Baltimore County, withdrew their support at the last minute, under pressure from their constituencies, which both have powerful religious communities.
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