Local
UPDATE: Md. braces for close vote on marriage
House committee advances bill; GOP lawmaker announces support
About 500 LGBT rights supporters turned out for the annual Lobby Day in Annapolis this week. For the first time, Gov. Martin O’Malley addressed the gathering. (Washington Blade photo by Steve Charing)
The Maryland House of Delegates is preparing for a close vote on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage on Friday.
The vote is expected just days after the measure was moved to the floor following approval by a joint committee on Tuesday.
Gov. Martin O’Malley introduced the Civil Marriage Protection Act as part of his legislative package. A similar measure passed the Senate but died in the House last year after supporters determined they didn’t have sufficient votes for passage in the lower chamber.
“Today’s vote on the Civil Marriage Protection Act is a significant step forward for the passage of this bill in Maryland,” O’Malley said in a statement after Tuesday’s committee vote. “Together, we will continue our work to ensure that our State protects religious freedom and provides equal protection under the law for all Marylanders.”
The Judiciary Committee and the Health & Government Operations Committee heard joint testimony last week on the marriage bill. The committees voted jointly over several hours late Tuesday afternoon. The vote was 25-18 in favor, with one abstention, Del. Sam Arora (D-Mont. Co.), a former supporter of the bill.
“We just took another step toward civil marriage equality becoming a reality in Maryland; the momentum is with us,” the group Marylanders for Marriage Equality said in a statement. “We thank all supportive Delegates for their leadership on this very important issue that will improve the lives of thousands of Maryland families and help put the state on the right side of history.”
Del. Kathleen Dumais (D-Montgomery County), who serves as vice chair of the Judiciary Committee, said the marriage bill was scheduled to be taken up on the House floor on Thursday for a second-reading vote following an informal first-reading of the bill on the floor on Wednesday. All bills are open to proposed amendments during the second reading. She said a final, third reading, debate and vote on the bill was expected to take place in the House on Friday.
“I feel positive that it will pass the House this year,” she told the Blade on Wednesday.
Although supporters hailed the joint vote by the two committees to approve legislation to legalize same-sex marriage, a breakdown of the vote shows that the bill lost among Judiciary Committee members by a vote of 11-10, with the one abstention by Arora. The vote breakdown shows that Health and Government Operations Committee members voted to approve the bill by a margin of 15-7, with one member absent.
The large margin of approval by the HGO Committee clearly put the bill over the top in the combined vote. The development confirms speculation that House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Anne Arundel County) gave the HGO Committee jurisdiction over the bill along with the Judiciary panel this year because he knew in advance that the Judiciary Committee lacked the votes to approve a marriage bill.
The Judiciary panel approved the bill last year by a one-vote margin, with Chairman Joseph Vallario (D-Calvert & Prince George’s County) voting for the bill. Vallario voted against the bill at Tuesday’s joint committee session. Arora also voted for the bill in committee last year but made it clear that he would not vote for it on the House floor.
His abstention this year highlights the surprise and disappointment among many LGBT activists in Maryland who supported Arora’s 2010 election campaign in which he ran on a platform of support for a same-sex marriage equality bill. Last year he initially signed on as a co-sponsor for the bill before he announced that based on religious beliefs he could no longer support the legislation.
No vote was taken in the joint committee session on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, but the joint panel voted down five proposed amendments to the Civil Marriage Protection Act, including:
• An amendment to eliminate all sex education in public schools, which failed 26-17;
• An amendment calling for parental consent before using materials that address “non-traditional families” in schools, which failed 27-16;
• An amendment to prohibit minors from marrying someone of the same sex, which failed 26-17;
• An amendment to change the effective date of the bill to Jan. 1, 2013, which failed 24-21;
• And an amendment to change the bill from marriage to civil unions, which failed 27-17.
In a related development, Del. Robert Costa, a Republican from Anne Arundel County, announced Tuesday that he will vote for the marriage bill.
“I think it’s not a state function to decide who can marry,” the Annapolis Capital quoted him as saying. “I do what I believe is right for people. I don’t think that matters. I represent constituents and not a party.”
The announcement drew quick praise from LGBT advocates.
“The fact that Del. Costa is going to support this bill publicly is really demonstrating the momentum for this and how quickly the momentum is growing,” Equality Maryland Executive Director Carrie Evans told the Blade. “It’s significant like Sen. Allan Kittleman’s vote was last year. We know it isn’t a partisan issue. We finally see evidence that it’s not. Del. Costa represents a fairly rural district and he’s with us.”
And in another development, a one-time supporter of the same-sex marriage bill who startled LGBT advocates last year by saying she was backing away from her support told the Blade that she has yet to decide how she will vote on the bill this year.
Del. Jill Carter (D-Baltimore) told the Blade last week that she’s concerned that some news media outlets incorrectly reported last year that she voted against the same-sex marriage bill in committee.
“In fact, I voted for it,” she said. “I’m not ready to say what I’ll do this year.” She voted for the bill in committee Tuesday.
Carter spoke to the Blade outside a House of Delegates hearing room in Annapolis on Feb. 10 in which two committees conducted a joint hearing on both the Civil Marriage Protection Act, which would allow same-sex couples to marry, and a separate bill calling for a state constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to a union only between a man and a woman.
Similar to last year, political pundits in the state believe the Maryland Senate is poised to pass the marriage bill and reject the proposed constitutional amendment.
But observers say the marriage bill’s prospects in the House of Delegates are uncertain. Supporters say they hope to persuade the small number of delegates that declined to back the bill last year and who are needed for the bill’s passage this year to change their minds and vote for it.
Rehoboth Beach
Women’s FEST returns to Rehoboth Beach next week
Golf tournament, mini-concerts, meetups planned for silver anniversary festival
Women’s+ FEST 2026 will begin on Thursday, April 9 at CAMP Rehoboth Community Center.
The festival will celebrate a remarkable milestone in 2026: its silver anniversary. For 25 years, Women’s+ FEST has brought fun and entertainment for all those on the spectrum of the feminine spirit. There will be a variety of events including a golf tournament, mini-concerts and happy hour meetups.
For more information, visit Camp Rehoboth’s website.
District of Columbia
How new barriers to health care coverage are hitting D.C.
Federally qualified health centers bracing for influx of newly uninsured patients
Washington, D.C. has the second-lowest rate of people who lack health insurance in the country, but many residents are facing new barriers to health care due to provisions of the sweeping federal law passed in July, which threatens access for thousands.
Changes to insurance eligibility and the rising cost of premiums, which kicked in for some in October and others more recently, are expected to leave many more patients uninsured or unable to afford medical care. Federally qualified health centers, including D.C.’s Whitman-Walker Health, where 10 to 12 percent of patients are uninsured, are bracing for an influx of newly uninsured patients while facing their own financial challenges.
Even in D.C., where uninsured rates have been among the lowest in the country, changes brought on by the passage of the Republican mega bill (known as the “Big Beautiful Bill”) will have major effects.
The changes from the bill affect Medicaid, which is free to low-income patients, and subsidies for insurance that people buy on the health insurance exchanges that were started under the Affordable Care Act, which were allowed to expire on Dec. 31.
Erin Loubier, vice president for access and strategic initiatives at Whitman-Walker Health, says some Whitman-Walker Health patients have received notices about premium increases, including several who say the increases are up to 1,000 percent more than they were paying.
“That is like paying rent,” she says. “We live in an expensive city, so any increases are going to be really, really hard on people.”
Whitman-Walker Health and other healthcare providers are expecting the changes to have multiple effects — some patients may not be able to afford coverage or may avoid going to the doctor and allow health conditions to worsen because they can’t afford care, and many more will be seeking care who don’t have insurance.
“I’m worried that we’re going to not just have people who can’t get care, but that they delay care until they’re really sick, and then the care is not as effective because they might have waited too long, and then we may have a less healthy population,” Loubier says.
Loubier says delaying care, and serving more people without insurance has major implications for Whitman-Walker Health and other health centers serving the community.
“There’s going to be a lot of pressure on us to try to find and raise more money, and that’s going to be harder, because I think all organizations who provide health care are going to be facing this,” she says.
The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world, and has much higher out-of-pocket costs for individuals. But in other countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and many others, health care is much less expensive — or even free.
Even though the U.S. has a high-priced healthcare system, critics say there are still ways to bring down costs by forcing insurance and pharmaceutical companies to absorb more of the costs, rather than transferring the costs to patients.
“In the U.S., they end up trying to cut costs at the person’s level, not at the level of the different corporations or structures that are making a lot of money in healthcare,” said Loubier. “Our system is so complicated and there is probably waste in it, but I don’t think that that cost and waste is at the ‘people’ level. I think it’s higher up at the system level, but that is much, much harder to get people to try to make cuts at that end.”
Ultimately at Whitman-Walker Health, healthcare providers and insurance navigators are planning to help with everyday necessities when it comes to healthcare coverage and striving to provide healthcare in partnership with patients, said Loubier.
“The key here is we’re going to have a lot of people who may lose insurance, and they’re going to rely on places like Whitman-Walker Health and other community health centers, so we have to figure out how we keep providing that care,” she said.
(This article was written by a student in the journalism program at Bard High School Early College DC. This work is part of a partnership between the Washington Blade Foundation and Youthcast Media Group, funded through the FY26 Community Development Grant from the Office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.)
District of Columbia
Mayor Bowser signs bill requiring insurers to cover PrEP
‘This is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS’
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on March 20 signed a bill approved by the D.C. Council that requires health insurance companies to cover the costs of HIV prevention or PrEP drugs for D.C. residents at risk for HIV infection.
Like all legislation approved by the Council and signed by the mayor, the bill, called the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act, was sent to Capitol Hill for a required 30-day congressional review period before it takes effect as D.C. law.
Gay D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) last year introduced the bill.
Insurance coverage for PrEP drugs has been provided through coverage standards included in the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. But AIDS advocacy organizations have called on states and D.C. to pass their own legislation requiring insurance coverage of PrEP as a safeguard in case federal policies are weakened or removed by the Trump administration, which has already reduced federal funding for HIV/AIDS-related programs.
Like legislation passed by other states, the PrEP D.C. Amendment Act requires insurers to cover all PrEP drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Studies have shown that PrEP drugs, which can be taken as pills or by injection just twice a year, are highly effective in preventing HIV infection.
“I think this is a win for our community,” Parker said after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to approve the bill on its first vote on the measure in February. “And this is a win in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”
Women’s FEST returns to Rehoboth Beach next week
Belarusian lawmakers approve bill to crackdown on LGBTQ rights
Calendar: April 3-9
How new barriers to health care coverage are hitting D.C.
Kenyan advocacy groups launch LGBTQ voter mobilization campaign
‘Out for McDuffie’ event held at D.C. gay bar
‘Jonah’ an undeniably compelling but unusual memory play
The Oscar-losing performance that’s too good to miss
Thousands attend ‘No Kings’ protests in D.C.
