Katie O’Malley “hopeful” Md. voters will support same-sex marriage law

Maryland First Lady Katie O’Malley (Photo courtesy of www.governor.maryland.gov)

Maryland First Lady Katie O’Malley stressed on Sunday that she remains optimistic voters will back the state’s same-sex marriage law in November.

“We’re so hopeful that in just 40-some days we’re going to be able to pass the marriage equality referendum,” she said during the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League’s annual Fall Brunch at the Mandarin Oriental in Southwest Washington at which she was honored for her anti-bullying efforts. O’Malley, a judge on the Baltimore City District Court, also jokingly referenced her controversial remarks at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference in Baltimore in January when she described House of Delegates members who opposed last year’s same-sex marriage bill as “cowards.”

She spoke hours after the Baltimore Sun released a poll that shows 49 percent of likely Maryland voters support the state’s same-sex marriage law, compared to 39 percent who oppose it.  A Gonzalez Research poll released last week indicates that 51 percent of Marylanders would support the same-sex marriage law in the Nov. 6 referendum, compared to 43 percent who would oppose it. The same survey noted that 44 percent of black Marylanders back nuptials for gays and lesbians, compared to 52 percent who oppose them.

Governor Martin O’Malley said during a Sept. 24 conference call with LGBT reporters and bloggers that Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the campaign defending the state’s same-sex marriage law, needs to raise another $2 million before Election Day. He further acknowledged that Question 6 opponents will soon begin running ads on local television stations.

“I’m excited about this campaign,” said the governor. “All indications are, especially after the courageous statements by President Obama [in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples] and the very skillful way that the Democratic National Convention wove marriage equality and the Dream Act into the fabric of human dignity, that the people of Maryland will choose to move forward and not back. And that we will in fact pass this and defend it on Election Day.”

Martin O’Malley is scheduled to attend a Marylanders for Marriage Equality fundraiser at gay Democratic lobbyist Steve Elmendorf’s Logan Circle home on Tuesday with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.