Press Release: MD Court of Appeals decision on Civil Unions
From:
LWV of Maryland
Statement of the League of Women Voters on Maryland Court of Appeals decision in Conaway v. Deane
The Maryland League of Women Voters is disappointed in the opinion released on September 18, 2007, by the Maryland State Court of Appeals confirming that a Maryland statute declaring marriage is between a man and woman only does not discriminate on the basis of gender. In June of this year the League of Women Voters of Maryland, as the result of a year long study and consensus process, adopted a position supporting state sanctioned, legally recognized unions which convey rights, benefits and obligations to same-sex partners who seek such unions.
During their study, League members determined that the state’s definition of marriage is discriminatory. This discrimination was confirmed in the Court’s opinion, which noted the existence of 339 Maryland laws that provide for benefits conditioned on marital status, granting rights and responsibilities to married couples, to the effective exclusion of same-sex couples. These include but are not limited to, areas of taxation, business regulation, spousal privilege and other procedural matters, education, decision making re spousal health care, insurance, child care and child rearing, pensions, and even responsibilities regarding spousal funeral arrangements.
In addition to these regulatory issues, same-sex couples suffer intangible harms, such as the stigma attached to the couples and their children, and the indignities of being singled out and given unequal treatment due to their sexual preference.
The opinion of the Court of Appeals noted that the General Assembly could act to remedy the current equal protection violations by modifying the definition of marriage in the current statute to include committed same-sex couple or alternatively, the Legislature could elect to title all partnerships between two people, whether same or opposite sex, as civil unions, domestic partnerships, etc. The League will work with other organizations to pursue legislative changes that ensure that Maryland law does not discriminate in its recognition of all marriages/civil unions on the basis of gender or religious definitions of marriage.
