US Governor Signs Bill Legalizing Gay Marriage

Last updated on: March 1, 2012 at 6:18 pm by

US Governor Signs Bill Legalizing Gay Marriage 2012-03-01T18:18:03-07:00

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ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (AP) — Maryland’s governor signed a measure legalizing gay marriage Thursday, joining seven other states.

Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, signed the bill a week after its final passage in the Legislature. The law is scheduled to take effect in January 2013.

However, opponents — backed by many churches — are expected to petition the law to a referendum on the November ballot.

“Religious freedom was the very reason for our state’s founding and at the heart of religious freedom is the freedom of individual conscience,” O’Malley said just before adding his signature to the legislation, referring to the state’s origins as a British colony that was a haven for Catholics.

Referendum organizers need to collect almost 56,000 signatures to put the measure before voters and are expected to rely heavily on churchgoers who oppose same-sex marriage as a matter of faith, to reach that goal. Even gay marriage advocates expect the referendum to end up on the ballot.

Six states and the Washington capital district already recognize gay marriages. The state of Washington has also legalized gay marriage, and its law takes effect in June. Voters there are expected to petition the measure to referendum this November.

Maine legalized the unions for same-sex couples in 2009, but later that year became the only state overturn a such a law passed by a legislature.

Meanwhile, about 30 states have constitutional amendments that seek to prohibit gay marriage, most by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

In Maryland, many African American church leaders oppose gay marriage in the liberal-leaning state that’s nearly one-third black, and President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is expected to drive many of their congregants to the polls.

Donald Norris, chairman of the department of public policy at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said black churches could heavily influence the referendum, but liberal voters who come out to support Obama’s re-election could offset the votes against same-sex marriage.

A number of factors could tip the vote on a referendum, Norris said. For example, a weak Republican presidential candidate could mean conservative voters stay home and don’t cast ballots against the law.

Gay marriage advocates are hoping that young voters — whom they expect to support their cause — will turn out for Obama as they did in 2008.

“I think Obama’s election turns out a number of different people,” said Sultan Shakir, campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, a coalition of gay rights groups that worked to get the bill passed. “(There is) a lot of attention around people who attend church, but there are plenty of other demographics who are going to be turned out.”

The advocates also think it is inappropriate to leave what they consider a civil rights issue to the discretion of voters.

“It’s sad to me that anyone would think that it’s OK to put up the rights of a minority to a popular vote,” said Lisa Polyak, chairwoman of the board of directors for the gay rights organization Equality Maryland. “We have children, we have lives, we have jobs and we just want to go about them with integrity.”

Proponents of gay marriage are also counting on religious leaders who support of the bill to influence their congregations and for labor unions to urge their members to vote to keep gay marriage legal. Some black pastors who supported the measure as a matter of civil rights appeared publicly with O’Malley, a Democrat, during the legislative debate.

Babatunde Adedayo, a 29-year-old African-American, said the president and his stance on gay marriage will likely influence his peers in November. Obama supports civil unions, but has not endorsed marriage for same-sex couples

“I think this affects every facet of our culture,” Adedayo said after the service at Hope Christian. “As a black African-American in America, it is something the black church takes seriously and depending on Barack Obama’s stance on this, it will affect a lot of people.”

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