Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler today issued an opinion that his state should recognize same-sex marriages performed in locations where such marriages are legal.
Gansler’s 45-page opinion comes after nearly a year of research, and concludes that Maryland’s Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court — could “likely apply the principle that a marriage is valid in the place of celebration is valid in Maryland.”
Of course the man known as Maryland’s most conservative lawmaker, Delegate Don Dwyer, had already threatened to impeach Gansler if the AG came down in favor of recognition legal same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, and Dwyer today posted a message on his Facebook page saying he will work to impeach Gansler, “not because he disagrees with [me] on the topic of same sex marriage, but because he has overstepped his constitutional bounds and violated his oath of office.”
(Just another shining example of the kind of “play by my rules or I will take my toys and go home” politics that are currently crippling our government at every level.)
And Maryland Sen. Norman Stone, worried that Maryland couples will go to Washington, D.C. to get married then come home to Maryland and insist their marriages be recognized, has introduced legislation to keep the state from recognizing “foreign” same-sex marriages (those performed in some jurisdiction where they are legal).
Said Stone: If people “strongly believe in same-sex marriages, they should go live in those states” that allow it.
(Sound familiar? Rick Perry telling LGBT military veterans to go somewhere else if they didn’t like Texas’ laws banning same-sex marriage?)
After reading several articles online and seeing lots of statements from LGBT organizations about Gansler’s opinion, I found this interesting tidbit in an Associated Press story: A Maryland Democratic lawmaker named Henry Heller is introducing legislation to make it illegal there for first cousins (of opposite genders, I assume) to get married.
Heller said allowing first cousins to marry is too dangerous because of the increased likelihood they will pass on genetic disorders to their children. He calls it “genetic roulette.” But Heller’s bill has no problem with first cousins who are over 65 or infertile marrying, and included an exception for such couples in the bill.
Heller said says he wants to bring Maryland “into the enlightened world of other states such as West Virginia and Arkansas” that already prohibit unions of first cousins.
