Maryland

2011 will likely see a number of battles state by state across the country. Three states plus the District of Columbia are facing the prospect of losing marriage equality, an additional seven states could start the process of amending their state constitutions to ban marriage equality, five could gain marriage equality.

Maryland is poised to become the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage as majority leaders in both chambers of the state legislature plan to introduce gay marriage legislation this session.

The father of a U.S. Marine killed in Iraq has been ordered to pay $16,510 to a family that protested his son’s funeral in Maryland. Albert Snyder sued members of the Westboro Baptist Church because they waved signs saying “God hates the USA,” “Matt is in Hell” and others bearing anti-gay slurs at the 2006 […]

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler released a long-awaited opinion Wednesday saying that Maryland should recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, drawing cheers from gay-rights supporters and igniting immediate debate on a highly contentious issue in an election year. From the Baltimore Sun: With the ruling, state agencies will be required to extend all […]

Members of a Maryland House Judiciary committee on Wednesday shot down a bill that would prohibit Maryland from recognizing gay marriages validated by other states or countries. Without discussion or debate, the committee soundly defeated the Same Sex Marriages – Foreign Jurisdictions – Invalidity Act (House Bill 90) by a vote of 12-8. The bill, […]

As LGBT advocates around the country are planning candlelight vigils in memory of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado — the 19-year-old boy who was burned, dismembered and decapitated last week in Puerto Rico — word comes out of Baltimore about another murdered gay teen. Jason Mattison Jr., a 15-year old openly gay sophomore at the Vivian […]