Local
O’Malley says marriage bill brings dignity, religious freedom
LGBT advocates, clergy, labor leaders join governor in launching campaign to pass bill
Gov. Martin O’Malley on the steps of the governor’s residence in Annapolis, Maryland (Washington Blade photo by Pete Exis)
At a gathering on the steps of the governor’s residence in Annapolis, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley on Tuesday called on the state’s residents and lawmakers to join him in supporting his newly drafted same-sex marriage bill.
With about 50 supporters of the bill standing behind him, including same-sex couples, clergy members, and state labor leaders, O’Malley said the bill provides a proper balance between “equal protection under the law” and “religious freedom.”
His remarks came on the day after he officially introduced the Civil Marriage Protection Act into the Maryland General Assembly and minutes after he hosted a breakfast in the governor’s residence for representatives of the coalition of organizations and clergy backing the bill.
“There is a broad coalition, and many are arrayed on the steps here with me, and they are all supportive of the bill I introduced last night on civil marriage equality in the state of Maryland,” he said.
“All of us want the same thing for our children. Marylanders of different religious beliefs, Marylanders of all walks of life all want the same thing for our children. We want our children to live in loving, stable, committed households that are protected equally under the law,” he said.
Anticipating what political observers in the state capital expect to be an aggressive campaign to oppose the bill by religious groups, including leaders the Catholic Archdiocese of Maryland, O’Malley stressed that his bill provides expanded protections for religious institutions and people of faith.
“We also believe that we can protect religious freedom and rights equally under the law,” he said. “Other states have found a way to do this. We can find a way to do this too. And that common ground that allows us to move forward is dignity — the human dignity of every single person,” he said.
Among those who spoke at the gathering in addition to O’Malley were Rev. Starlene Joyner Burns, founder of a Christian ministry in Bowie, Md.; Ezekiel Jackson, an official with the Service Employees International Union Local 1199 of Maryland; and State Senator Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County, one of seven out gay members of the General Assembly.
Also speaking were O’Brian Banner, 28, and Daryl Fields, 27, who identified themselves as a gay couple from New Carrollton, Md., near D.C., who hope to marry in their home state.
“We’ve been together for five years,” Banner said. “We moved here two years ago from North Carolina with the hope of a better opportunity.”
Like most other couples, Banner said, he and his partner would like to realize “the American dream – to get married, adopt children, and own a home.”
Others attending the gathering included out gay House of Delegate members Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore), Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County), Mary Washington (D-Baltimore), and Peter Murphy (D-Charles County).
Mizeur called O’Malley’s strong support for the same-sex marriage bill a “tremendous” development that would greatly increase the bill’s prospects for passing.
Also in attendance was Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of the Mt. Rainier, Md., based New Ways Ministry, an LGBT supportive Catholic organization. Gramick said opposition to the same-sex marriage bill by Catholic Church officials in Maryland would be offset by support for same-sex marriage rights and LGBT equality by a “solid majority” of rank and file Catholics in Maryland.
“The momentum is growing and there’s a lot of hard work to do,” said O’Malley, in assessing the bill’s chances of passage in the legislature’s 90-day legislative session. “But we are going to be successful in this legislative session.”
Sultan Shakir, campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the coalition of LGBT, civil rights, labor, and religious groups leading the effort to pass the bill, said he expects both the State Senate and House of Delegates to vote on the bill before the end of February.
He noted the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the bill on Jan. 31. Shakir and Madaleno said the committee is expected to vote to send the bill to the full Senate shortly after the hearing and a Senate vote could take place within a week or two.
“We have the votes to pass it in the Senate,” said Madaleno.
Once cleared by the full Senate, which approved the bill last year, Shakir said it will go to the House of Delegates, which he expects to vote on the measure sometime before the end of February.
“All of us are engaging in on-the-ground efforts to move hearts on this issue and to generate votes when we get to the House of Delegates,” said Mizeur, one of the lead sponsors of the bill in the House.
“And we know it’s going to be a challenge again,” she said. “No one is taking this for granted. It’s not a done deal. But we definitely feel like it’s Maryland’s moment and we’re going to make this happen.”
The bill died in the House of Delegates last year when supporters determined they didn’t have the votes to pass it and voted to send it back to committee.
With O’Malley’s changes this year that he says have strengthened the bill’s “religious liberties” provisions, supporters say they are hopeful several House members who declined to support the measure last year will help to pass it this year.
When asked at the news conference what he sees as the main difference between last year’s bill and this year’s measure, O’Malley said, “The protections of religious liberty are more explicit in this bill.”
He added, “In fact, they may be more explicit in the bill than they had been in any other bills around the country. I know that our legislative team was drawing upon the experience in other states that have passed this measure and they found a way to protect rights equally while also protecting religious liberties.”
Sen. Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County), one of the lead sponsors of the bill, said he was studying the bill’s new wording when contacted by the Blade Tuesday afternoon.
Raskin, an American University law professor, said O’Malley’s version of the bill appears to have added to a provision he and members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings committee put in the bill last year in an effort to accommodate religious organizations and churches.
The provision allows organizations like the Catholic group Knights of Columbus to decline to provide public accommodations such as rental of a hall for a gay wedding, Raskin said.
“Arguably under current law the Knights of Columbus hall has to be open to everyone if it is a place of public accommodation,” he said. “So there was a small sacrifice in public accommodations law to bend over backwards to accommodate religiously oriented institutions. It has not gone much further than that.”
Raskin added, “We haven’t entered into an examination yet into what the governor’s bill means. But I don’t think it goes much further than that. And I think the marriage equality side can swallow our misgivings on that because we’re trading it for a long overdue vindication of everybody’s right to participate in institutional marriage.”
The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, which lobbies against same-sex marriage laws throughout the country, has rejected the type of compromise language described by Raskin, saying same-sex marriage laws are unacceptable regardless of whether they include religious exemption provisions.
NOM President Brian Brown has said his organization works to defeat any lawmakers that vote for same-sex marriage because marriage must be “preserved” as a union only between a man and a woman.
Maryland
White House threatens Anne Arundel schools over gender identity policy
District faces possible legal action or loss of federal funding
By JESSICA CALEFATI | The Trump-Vance administration on Monday threatened to punish Anne Arundel County’s school system with legal action or the loss of federal funding for allegedly withholding information about a student’s gender identity and transition from the child’s parents.
The U.S. Education and Justice Departments together determined that the suburban Maryland district treats students’ gender identities as confidential medical information that cannot be shared with parents, in violation of federal student privacy law, according to a news release. A federal lawsuit filed against the district earlier this month made similar claims.
“As a mother and a grandmother, it is unconscionable that any school district would hide the most sensitive information about children in their care from their own parents,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “This is not only an affront to basic moral principles, but also to parents’ rights under federal law.”
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Virginia
Winsome Earle-Sears launches campaign against Va. marriage equality amendment
Former LG lost to Abigail Spanberger in 2025 gubernatorial race
Less than a year after losing Virginia’s gubernatorial race, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is campaigning across the state against constitutional amendments that would protect marriage equality and reproductive freedom.
She is launching a statewide “Life and Marriage Tour” ahead of November’s election.
Although same-sex couples can legally marry under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, Virginia’s constitution still contains language that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. Supporters say removing the language would protect marriage equality should federal precedent change.
The original ban was written into the state constitution in 2006.
It has been hinted at in the past by Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas that he would consider revisiting Obergefell v. Hodges regarding contraception and marriage rights for same-sex couples. He stated this in his concurring opinion regarding the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling, which allows for state-level abortion bans.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman said removing the ban would bring the state’s constitution in line with existing law.
“20 years after banning marriage equality, it’s time for our commonwealth to fully complete our evolution — and finish the job on protecting marriage equality for all,” Rahaman said.
In an email to supporters, Earle-Sears said these amendments “raise serious concerns” and could alter principles about which Virginians care.
“That is why our efforts are focused not only on informing voters, but also encouraging them to carefully consider these proposals and vote NO on both amendments,” Earle-Sears said.
Virginia voters will consider three constitutional amendments this November.
Earle-Sears is campaigning for voters to reject two of them: the Virginia Remove Constitutional Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment and the Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
A “Yes” vote on the Same-Sex Marriage Ban Amendment would include removing a provision that states marriage is between one man and one woman and prohibitng the state from denying a marriage license to two adults based on their sex, gender, or race, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
In 2025, during debates against now Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Earle-Sears argued it is not discrimination to think that gay people should not be allowed to marry. She claims it conflicts with her faith.
According to ABC 8, in 2024 she wrote that she had a “moral opposition” to marriage equality, after former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed a marriage equality bill that barred denying marriage licenses based on sex, gender, or race.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, a “Yes” vote on the Reproductive Freedom amendment supports adding a section to the state constitution that would give Virginians the right to make and carry out decisions regarding reproductive healthcare, except in specific exemptions.
The Virginia Department of Elections wrote that if accepted, the amendment would allow the state government to pass laws to regulate abortion care in the third trimester of pregnancy, but require abortion care when it is medically needed to protect the life and health of the pregnant person or because the fetus is not viable.
During the 2025 election cycle, Earle-Sears was clear on her anti-abortion stance.
According to the Virginia Independent, she utilized campaign funds to donate to the Family Foundation of Virginia. The group is a faith-based, anti-abortion, and anti-in vitro fertilization non-profit.
The “Life and Marriage Tour” will include traveling throughout Virginia to speak with citizens, churches, community organizations, and local leaders. The exact locations have yet to be announced.
District of Columbia
D.C. Council approves increased funding for Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Increase attached to 2027 budget bill
The D.C. Council on July 14 gave final approval for the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget that includes an amendment calling for increasing the number and size of funding grants that the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides for local organizations providing services for the LGBTQ community.
The amendment, called the “LGBTQ Community Grant Amendment Act of 2026,” was introduced earlier this year by D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member.
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition called the Parker amendment “a historic measure that establishes the District’s most sustainable model for a vehicle for investing in LGBTQ communities.”
The Council approved the version of the FY 2027 budget bill with the attached Parker amendment in its first of two required votes on June 9. Shortly after voting unanimously to give final approval of an earlier version of the two-part budget measure on July 7 that includes the Parker amendment, the Council sent the bill to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her signature.
Bowser has expressed strong opposition to several provisions in the $22 billion budget measure passed by the Council that are unrelated to the Parker amendment regarding the Office of LGBTQ Affairs. The mayor has yet to say whether she will sign, veto, or choose not to sign the bill.
The latter option would allow the bill to become law if Congress does not choose to overturn it during its required 30-day legislative review period for all D.C. bills. Political observers believe the Council will vote to override a veto if Bowser chooses to veto the bill.
When contacted by the Washington Blade on July 22 to determine where the mayor stands on the budget bill, mayoral spokesperson Daniel Gleick said only, there was “no update on the budget just yet.”
Among other things, the Parker amendment calls for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to issue a $980,000 grant in FY 2027 to a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with the office “for the purpose of supporting programs that promote the welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.”
It would allocate $680,000 of that funding total from existing funds from the city’s community affairs grants program and calls for $200,000 in newly appropriated funds.
It says the organization selected would also initiate its own fundraising effort to expand the amount of funds beyond the amount the office would provide, enabling it to provide larger grants to a greater number of local LGBTQ organizations.
“The legislation arrives at a critical moment, as LGBTQ-serving organizations face unprecedented uncertainty,” the D.C. Budget Coalition said in its comment on the Parker amendment. “Growing demand for services is colliding with shrinking resources, federal attacks on LGBTQ programs, and ongoing threats to local funding streams,” the coalition’s statement says.
In what some observers have called a highly controversial action; the budget bill approved by the Council reverses and restores millions of dollars in budget cuts proposed by Bowser in the budget she submitted to the Council earlier this year.
Among other things, the Council’s budget preserves the current level of funding for housing vouchers, childcare, paid family leave, and other programs slated to be cut in the mayor’s proposed budget, according to a report by the Washington Post.
Bowser points out that the Council approved budget bill calls for using $150 million from the city’s reserve fund, which she and others have said could put the city in jeopardy in future years. The mayor has said the cuts were needed to prevent a major funding shortfall brought about by the action by Republicans in Congress to cut the city’s budget by over a billion dollars.
White House threatens Anne Arundel schools over gender identity policy
PHOTOS: Front Royal Pride
Dutch queen opens World Pride in Amsterdam
Gary Sutton, known for ‘warmth and laughter,’ dies at 62
With gas prices soaring again, a staycation is a good plan
Summer in D.C. brings sports, Restaurant Week, festivals, and more
No Pride without Disability Pride
Trump tries to scare Americans into not voting
2026 International AIDS Conference to take place in Rio
