The good news for marriage just keeps piling up!
In North Carolina, marriage advocates say odds look good for passing a marriage amendment.
North Carolina is the only southern state that has not added a marriage amendment to its constitution. Democratic leaders, with a lot of help from Tim Gill's money, claimed it was "unnecessary."
After Iowa and Connecticut, that's getting harder to say with a straight face.
So Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper reports:
Newly emboldened Republican lawmakers in Iowa and New Hampshire have sharpened their focus on blocking gay marriage rights, thrusting a wedge issue into the spotlight just as candidates start wooing voters in the most important states on the presidential primary calendar.
The debate over the divisive social issue has recently neared a boiling point in both states, even before the Obama administration decided to oppose the Defense of Marriage Act. Already there have been packed state house hearings in New Hampshire, Iowa Supreme Court judges ousted and groups threatening oaths for presidential hopefuls. (source)
Bridgette P. LaVictoire writes:
Part of it is that some Delegates, such as Jill Carter, want to consider other issues such as a child custody bill and education funding before dealing with marriage equality. Carter is one of two Delegates who support marriage equality who walked out of the committee this morning during the specially scheduled vote on the marriage proposal, thus delaying further consideration on issues that are vitally important to her.
She claims that there are “more important, or at least equally important” issues that she wants fast-tracked in the way that she feels marriage equality has been. At issue for her are the restoration of education funding for Baltimore and Prince George’s County, which Governor Martin O’Malley has cut, and her own bill to provide a presumption of joint custody to divorcing couples.
She did not mince words about the fact that this was about getting votes for her pet issues despite the lack of importance for both. As she has pointed out, the session is only about half over, and they are in the first year of a four year term. She is the critical vote on the bill to move it forward to the House for full debate, but her snit is in relation to issues which are not entirely vital for consideration. Budgets rarely get voted on quickly, and the presumption of joint custody in a divorce is probably not going to be overly controversial. (source)
Delegate Jill Carter says education is just as much of a "fundamental right" as gay marriage. After speaking with her, House Speaker Michael Busch says he is now "uncertain" whether SSM can pass, the AP reports:
"We think it's a fundamental right for our children to get their money for education, the majority of our constituency sees it as a primary issue," Carter said. "We think it's as least as important as the issue of same-sex marriage that is being pushed through so quickly."
... [House Speaker] Busch was uncertain whether the move from Carter and Alston would kill the effort to legalize same-sex marriage this year.
"I can't project that," he said.
Via the Daily Record:
House Judiciary Committee Chair Joseph F. Vallario Jr. has delayed until Thursday at the earliest a vote on legislation to permit same-sex marriage in Maryland after two critical supporters of the measure said they would not vote before their concerns about potential school budget cuts are addressed.“We may hold it [beyond Thursday] but it will be on the [voting] list to talk about,” said Vallario, D-Prince George’s and Calvert, of the same-sex marriage bill. “It’s just not going to happen today.”
... Dels. Jill P. Carter, D-Baltimore City, and Tiffany T. Alston, D-Prince George’s, said they would withhold their committee votes on the same-sex marriage bill the Senate passed last week. Without their votes, the bill would have failed on a 10-10 vote of the 22-member committee. The panel includes 10 sponsors of the bill, in addition to Carter and Alston.
Carter and Alston took their stand even after a two-hour, closed-door meeting with House Speaker Michael E. Busch, D-Anne Arundel, to address the delegates’ concerns.
A serious snag:
The effort to extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples is on hold in the Maryland House following a day of delegate protests and closed-door negotiations.
... Supporters need 12 votes on the committee to pass the bill. Carter, a likely swing vote, said her request had not been met, after a 90-minute meeting with House Speaker Michael Busch. (source)
Delegate Curtis Anderson (D-Baltimore, pictured right) also failed to show up for the committee vote today. He has served as the chairman of the Maryland Legislative Black Caucus, according to his website.
Del. Jill Carter is unapologetic about holding out for a payoff:
"I don't feel good about disappointing my colleagues, but I think that has to be secondary to my obligation to do as much as I can (for my constituents)," said Carter, who argued that funding for schools and other issues should get as much priority as same-sex marriage.
Everyone is shocked as more Democrat delegates jump from "yes" to "undecided" or "absent," according to this news report from Southern Maryland Online, as a result of a flood of phone calls from constituents (like you!):
"The committee attempted to hold an unscheduled vote after Tuesday morning's general session, but three co-sponsors, Delegates Tiffany Alston, D-Prince George's, Jill Carter, D-Baltimore, and Curtis Anderson, D-Baltimore, were absent. Chairman Joseph Vallario (D-Calvert, P.G.) rescheduled the vote until after the committee's afternoon schedule.
Around 6 p.m., after five hours of testimony on unrelated bills, and long stretches of time where he was not in the hearing room, Vallario again postponed the vote, arguing that not all delegates were present and that it was too late to call the vote.
"The hour is late, there are delegates missing on this side and that side ... we might vote tomorrow, but I don't know," Vallario said.
Tuesday morning's absences came as a surprise to the bill's sponsors and speaks to the internal struggle going on among delegates who are wavering over their stance on same-sex marriage, said Delegate Bonnie Cullison, D-Montgomery.
Up until the end of last week, passage of the bill in the House seemed likely, but as of Tuesday, several delegates were still on the fence.
"Since the Senate has passed the same-sex marriage bill, many delegates are struggling with their votes, now that they have to push a button," Cullison said."
At least one of the two black Democrats (Del. Tiffany Alston) who refused to appear for the committee vote says she's now uncertain how she will vote and wants to pray about it. The second co-sponsor is now insisting on bargaining for benefits for her district in exchange for her vote. And a third Judiciary Dem says he will vote for it out of committee but is uncertain if he will vote for it on the floor.
"This is coming completely out of the blue," said Del. Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a Baltimore Democrat and outspoken supporter of same-sex marriage. "I've never heard of a co-sponsor trying to hold their own bill hostage." (Baltimore Sun)
All of our efforts are having an impact, so now we need to redouble them!
You can check this page for the latest updates from Maryland.
The Catholic News Service tells the tale of a fight still very much underway:
The bishops of Maryland Feb. 28 asked Catholics in their dioceses to keep up the fight against same-sex marriage in their state, saying, "We must not allow our Legislature to redefine marriage."
... "In addition to their thousands of e-mails, phone calls and visits to legislators, over 500 Catholics came out last week (Feb. 21) to visit legislators for the Maryland Catholic Conference's Lobby Night. Your efforts must not abate. The time for continued and urgent action is now."
The bishops criticized the "haste with which this measure is moving through the legislative process," calling it "unprecedented."
... The bishops said the bill's passage "by a slim majority of senators" was "regrettable." But the debate is "not over," they said, as "a solid number" of House members "remain opposed to redefining marriage." They urged Catholics to continue to tell their representatives that they have their constituents' support in rejecting same-sex marriage.
Their conclusion:
There is no question that legislative leaders should not and will not accede to [Del. Jill Carter's] demands. They cannot negotiate with a hostage-taker. Sadly, that could, indeed, give her the power to scuttle the bill. But she should think very carefully before doing that. It may give her a fleeting moment of power, but it will do nothing to advance the goals she articulated today and will instead relegate her forever to political infamy. (source)
Kevin Naff of the Washington Blade reports that "MD Bill in Jeopardy" because of Del. Jill Carter:
At a time when her colleagues on both sides of the aisle have debated the often-contentious issue of marriage equality with restraint, Carter today bailed on a committee vote and essentially took her ball and went home.
The House Judiciary Committee was set to vote to advance the marriage equality bill to the floor; it has already passed in the Senate. Carter, who represents the deciding vote in committee, abandoned the session and is trying to force her colleagues into acting on two of her own pet bills before agreeing to a vote on marriage.
Urgent news: I need you to call your state delegate right now! We have 3 hours until the Committee is about to vote.
There's been much good news from Annapolis today as the Black Church is standing up and making its powerful voice heard across the state! First we learned this morning that Del. Melvin Stukes, formerly a co-sponsor of the same-sex marriage bill, has withdrawn his sponsorship and will be voting against the bill! (Not that the mainstream press would bother to report it!)
Then plans for a vote in the House Judiciary Committee were postponed this morning when two co-sponsors of the bill went missing. We don't know all that is happening, except that the situation is very fluid, and the Committee chairman is planning to attempt a vote on the SSM bill this evening at 6pm.
We can win this fight! Please click here to send a message to your delegate ASAP!
Tell your delegate: Don’t mess with marriage!
In response to a question from me, Sarah Palin offered this exclusive response to President Obama's DOMA decision:
"I have always believed that marriage is between one man and one woman. Like the majority of Americans, I support the Defense of Marriage Act and find it appalling that the Obama administration decided not to defend this federal law which was enacted with broad bipartisan support and signed into law by a Democrat president. It's appalling, but not surprising that the President has flip-flopped on yet another issue from his stated position as a candidate to a seemingly opposite position once he was elected."
Please cite www.nationformarriage.org as the source for this statement from Sarah.
RELATED: See NOM's Roundup of Presidential Hopefuls and their statements on Obama's DOMA decision here.
UPDATES - here are some of the first media responses to this statement:
House leaders were pushing hard to get a vote in Maryland, fearful that if they wait any longer the rumble from the black churches will kill same-sex marriage in Maryland. But WaPo is reporting that plans to vote today in committee have been stalled when two delegates went missing:
[UPDATE: According to the AP, one of the missing delegates has turned up:
"At least one Maryland lawmaker said she held up a bill Tuesday to legalize gay marriage in order to gain support for her own legislation, including funding for Baltimore schools."]
ORIGINAL STORY:
Maryland's same-sex marriage legislation hit an unexpected roadblock Tuesday morning when two delegates who had expressed support for the bill failed to show up for a committee vote.
Colleagues frantically tried to locate Del. Tiffany T. Alston (D-Prince George's, right) and Del. Jill Carter (D-Baltimore, left) for about half an hour before calling off a scheduled vote in the House Judiciary Committee. Both Alston and Carter are co-sponsors of the House version of the bill.
"It simply means the soup's not ready yet," said Don H. Dwyer Jr. (R-Anne Arundel), a staunch opponent of the bill, suggesting supporters were short of votes.
Adam Winkler, a profess or law at UCLA writes in the HuffPo:
The administration decided not to defend DOMA on the basis of a controversial reading of the Constitution. Attorney General Eric Holder's letter to John Boehner, in which the announcement was made, stated that discrimination against gays must meet what the courts call "heightened scrutiny." That means that any law singling out gays must have unusually strong justification.
If only that were the case. Twice the Supreme Court has been asked to hold that discrimination against gay people warrants heightened scrutiny. And twice the Supreme Court has rejected that argument. Instead, the Court has suggested that discrimination against gays only needed to meet a lower standard of rationality. The lower courts asked to rule on the constitutionality of DOMA so far have consistently agreed that heightened review is not appropriate.
In my view, the Supreme Court was wrong to reject heightened scrutiny for sexual orientation discrimination. Nevertheless, that's the law of the land and, for better or worse, it's the Supreme Court, not the president, who gets to make that decision.
