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the quiet one
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- Aug 6, 2002
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Maryland judge rules gay-nuptials ban void
Associated Press
Baltimore - A Baltimore judge struck down a state law against gay marriage Friday, declaring it violates the Maryland Constitution's guarantee of equal rights.
Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock immediately stayed her order to allow the state to file an appeal with Maryland's highest court, the Court of Appeals. The attorney's general office did so later in the day. Murdock ruled in favor of 19 homosexuals, rejecting a state argument that the traditional family is ideal for children.
"Although tradition and societal values are important, they cannot be given so much weight that they alone will justify a discriminatory" law, she wrote.
Massachusetts is the only state to allow gay marriage.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2004 by the American Civil Liberties Union. It named court clerks in Baltimore city and Prince George's, St. Mary's, Dorchester and Washington counties as defendants and challenged a 1973 state law specifying that marriage is a union of one man and one woman.
from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, this morning... i can't post a link or i would.
Associated Press
Baltimore - A Baltimore judge struck down a state law against gay marriage Friday, declaring it violates the Maryland Constitution's guarantee of equal rights.
Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock immediately stayed her order to allow the state to file an appeal with Maryland's highest court, the Court of Appeals. The attorney's general office did so later in the day. Murdock ruled in favor of 19 homosexuals, rejecting a state argument that the traditional family is ideal for children.
"Although tradition and societal values are important, they cannot be given so much weight that they alone will justify a discriminatory" law, she wrote.
Massachusetts is the only state to allow gay marriage.
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2004 by the American Civil Liberties Union. It named court clerks in Baltimore city and Prince George's, St. Mary's, Dorchester and Washington counties as defendants and challenged a 1973 state law specifying that marriage is a union of one man and one woman.
from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, this morning... i can't post a link or i would.
