HRC Blog

Washington Post Marriage Op-Ed

August 27, 2009

Take a minute to read Maryland State Senator Rich Madaleno's piece on WashingtonPost.com about why marriage is important to him and his family. Of particular note is this paragraph that highlights a forthcoming opinion from State Attorney General Doug Gansler regarding whether Maryland will recognize legal marriages between same-sex couples performed elsewhere (like the District of Columbia recently enacted):

While Maryland does not allow same-gender couples to legalize their relationships here, many such couples in our state are already legally married. Some had destination weddings in a pro-equality state such as Vermont or Massachusetts; others were married before moving to Maryland for work or family. Recently, I asked for an opinion from Attorney General Doug Gansler regarding whether Maryland should follow the District and New York and honor these legal marriages. Having reviewed our case law, I believe we have a legal obligation to do just that. In the past, Maryland has, as a legal principle, honored marriages performed elsewhere even when those marriages could not have been performed here. A government should not dissolve a validly contracted marriage without even one party requesting it.