Can you imagine MD, the original Catholic state, going pro-homosexual marriage?
........” The federal government’s tally of same-sex couples, which is being released on a rolling, state-by-state basis, is especially significant for Maryland because of this year’s emotional General Assembly debate over gay marriage.
A same-sex marriage bill cleared the state Senate this year, but was pulled from the House floor after leaders determined that they were a few votes shy of the number needed for passage.
Opposition to gay marriage in Maryland is largely due to strongly held religious beliefs. Black churches from Prince George’s County and the Baltimore area led the push against the 2011 bill. Roman Catholic leaders also have opposed the measure, and Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien recently urged Gov. Martin O’Malley not to promote “a goal that so deeply conflicts with your faith.”
But the governor said several weeks ago that he would throw his weight behind the legislation, renewing supporters’ hopes for the 2012 General Assembly session. O’Malley is following in the footsteps of New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who helped push a similar measure through his state’s legislature this year......
Del. Heather R. Mizeur, a Montgomery County Democrat who is gay, said the new census information shows that gay people live in all corners of the state. Every county in Maryland, as well as the city of Baltimore, showed double-digit growth in same-sex households over the past decade.
....Gay couples account for about eight of every 1,000 households in the state, according to the census data, collected in the spring and summer of 2010.”..