McDermott: gay marriage update

A number of amendments have been voted on and killed by the House of Delegates. District 38B Delegate Mike McDermott explains:

On Wednesday morning, the House began the debate on Senate Bill 116 which seeks to legalize gay marriage. This was the Second Reading of this bill and this is the time when the House offers and debates amendments to a bill. Several amendments were offered by both sides of the aisle. They addressed the following areas of concern:

• Amendment 1 (543121/1) would address certain religious exemptions for adoption services and social service programs. It was simple and would have recognized the need for these objections for deeply held convictions. It was defeated on a vote of 58/79;
• Amendment 2 (483026/1) would have provided for exemptions for religious held convictions as pertaining to training by teachers and participation by students in K-12 public school programs. This would address homosexual sex education and make provision for teachers, parents, and students not to participate in this type of training. It was voted down 54/86;
• Amendment 3 (873228/1) would simply change the title of the bill to the “Same Sex Marriage Act” as opposed to its present title (Civil Marriage Protection Act). It was argued that the name was very deceiving and would continue to misdirect people when the bill goes to referendum. This amendment was defeated 52/85; and
• Amendment 4 (223923/1) was offered by a democrat member and would require a statewide referendum be conducted prior to the law taking effect. This reasonable attempt was also shot down on a tight vote with a couple of democrats speaking out on the floor. The vote was 63/72.

With these amendment defeats, the bill remains intact and will next appear for Third Reader and a final vote.

I must say I was very disappointed, particularly with the failure of amendments 3 and 4. The House is clearly divided and I have never seen good legislation pass under these circumstances. Clearly the ruling party’s leadership had been whipping their caucus and twisting arms to secure these votes. On the amendment votes, many of the delegates chose not to even vote! That was more shocking that all the rest. What a colossal failure of courage and conviction. This same legislative body debated slots and agreed to let the people decide “this monumental issue”, and then fails to think the people of Maryland should weigh in on the definition of “marriage”? What an outrage!

The final outcome remains unknown and both sides are working hard. As a result, I strongly encourage citizens to participate in the process with a focus on the House Democrats. You can hear the debate in full here.

One thing McDermott didn’t mention – but is quite important – is that these amendments are likely failing because, if the House and Senate do not pass identical bills SB116 would have to go to a conference committee where passage is doubtful. Simply put, with a backlog of other work developing the gay marriage bill may not be reconsidered before sine die on April 13.

The final vote is likely to occur tomorrow, although supporters concede they may be a few votes short of the 71 required to pass a full House delegation. Look for a bid by supporters to convince those opposed not to vote, lessening the number needed for passage. They could even resort to trickery like a late-night vote if necessary.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer. View all posts by Michael