New York Seen as Catalyst for Gay Marriage Elsewhere as Well as Helping Push the Issue to the Forefront Nationally Ahead of the 2012 Elections

Maryland Governor O’Malley Expresses Support for Gay Marriage Bill

July 15, 2011

Associated Press - Gov. Martin O'Malley said Friday he will push harder for a same-sex marriage measure in Maryland next year if it mirrors legislation that passed in New York after changes were made to protect religious freedom.

“I think we can learn from what they did,” O'Malley, a Democrat, said while attending the National Governors Association meeting in Salt Lake City. “One of the things we’re looking at in the drafting is how their clauses with regard to religious freedom were different from ours. That might improve our efforts. And I certainly plan to be very active in support of it, and we’ll have other announcements in upcoming months.”

O'Malley said he is talking with a broad coalition that has formed around the issue.

Gay marriage legislation passed the Maryland Senate this year, but stalled in the House of Delegates. The House sent the bill back to committee after it was determined it was a few votes short.

While O'Malley said he would have signed the bill this year if it had passed, he did not include it in his list of legislative priorities. Now he said he believes he can help make more of a difference in another try.

“There are times in Annapolis when a governor’s support can move an issue over the goal line…. This is one of those issues that can be resolved, as New York showed, with proper protections in place for religious freedoms,” O'Malley said.

Religious exemptions were critical to the New York measure’s passage. That bill was changed so that state and local governments could not penalize or withhold benefits from a religious institution or a nonprofit under its control for barring access to same-sex ceremonies.

In Maryland, same-sex marriage supporters rekindled debate on the issue this week by announcing the new coalition to push for passage next year. Their announcement brought a swift response from opponents, who vowed to return to Annapolis to keep Maryland’s marriage laws unchanged.

Opponents underscored the state’s mechanism for voters to petition legislation to the ballot, a petition process currently being used by opponents of separate legislation that would allow in-state tuition for illegal immigrants under certain circumstances.

State Sen. Richard Madaleno, a Montgomery County Democrat, said he met with the governor to discuss same-sex marriage legislation.

“The governor is interested in understanding the differences in the bill that passed the Maryland Senate, the new law enacted in New York and what religious exemptions are elsewhere in the country,” Madaleno, an openly gay lawmaker, said.

Madaleno also said the legislation is still very much under discussion.

“I think there are many people who are hopeful that the governor will decide to introduce this bill next year,” Madaleno said.

Joe Bryce, O'Malley’s chief legislative officer, said the administration is having internal discussions about legislation and meeting with lawmakers.

New York Town Clerk Quits Over Gay Marriage Licenses

July 12, 2011

Reuters - A town clerk in western New York has resigned to avoid being forced to sign marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples, citing religious objections to same-sex marriage.

Laura Fotusky, the town clerk in Barker, New York, said in her resignation letter that she will step down on July 21, three days before New York becomes the sixth and largest state to allow gay nuptials.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the same sex marriage law last month after the bill narrowly passed the Republican-led state Senate. Its approval in New York is seen as a catalyst for gay marriage elsewhere as well as helping push the issue to the forefront nationally ahead of the 2012 elections.

Much of the debate in New York focused on the scope of protections for those opposed to same-sex marriage. The new law exempts religious groups from performing same-sex marriages but does not extend those protections to individuals, including government employees.

Fotusky was not immediately available for comment, but in her letter, dated July 11, she said she believes the Bible takes precedence over man-made laws.

"The Bible clearly teaches that God created marriage between male and female as a divine gift that preserves families and cultures. Since I love and follow Him, I cannot put my signature on something that is against God," she wrote.

"I would be compromising my moral conscience if I participated in the licensing procedure," she wrote.

According to New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, a conservative Christian nonprofit group that circulated Fotusky's letter to the media, she is the first clerk in the state to resign over objections to same-sex nuptials.

But she is not the first to raise concerns. Two weeks ago, the town clerk in the Syracuse suburb of Volney cited her own religious objections and requested that outside help be brought in to sign same-sex marriage licenses.

Cuomo, who had made the legalization of same-sex marriage a top priority this year, told reporters on Tuesday that he agreed with Fotusky's decision to resign because government workers have a responsibility to enforce the law.

"When you enforce the laws of the state, you don't get to pick and choose the laws," Cuomo said.

Conscientious objection among government employees has been an issue in some other states that allow gay marriage.

In Massachusetts, more than a dozen justices of the peace threatened to resign in 2004 after a state court ruled that barring same-sex marriages was unconstitutional, and at least one resigned. In 2000, the town clerk in Tunbridge, Vermont resigned even though state law would have allowed her to appoint someone else to sign marriage licenses.

Robin Fretwell Wilson, a professor at Washington and Lee Law School in Virginia, has lobbied lawmakers in New York and other states to exempt individuals, including government employees, from providing services to same-sex couples. In a 2010 paper, she argued that the religious beliefs of marriage officers should be accommodated as long as they pose no hardship to same-sex couples.

"Forcing a public employee with a religious objection to facilitate a same-sex marriage would be intolerant in the extreme when little is to be gained by such rigid demands," wrote Wilson, who was not available for comment on Tuesday.