Equality Maryland’s Dan Furmansky said petitioning lawmakers for civil unions would have amounted to asking for second-class status. (Blade file photo by Henry Linser)
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JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, April 18, 2008
Three months ago, Marty Rouse was hopeful that Maryland lawmakers would extend new rights to same-sex couples.
Rouse, a Maryland resident who works as national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, told the Blade in January that he and his neighbors could win marriage rights, civil unions or domestic partnerships this year.
“I feel very confident that we will be successful in 2008,” he said at the time. “Well, I’ll say cautiously optimistic. I’m sorry. Cautiously optimistic that we will see some kind of relationship recognition in 2008.”
But Rouse’s hopes were dashed after efforts to grant gay Marylanders marriage rights died in committee. Bills to enact civil unions or domestic partnerships were snubbed by activists and failed to gain traction.
In the end, Maryland legislators granted same-sex couples just a few new privileges, such as hospital visitation rights, before they adjourned last week.
Rouse, who lives near Bethesda, Md., said the session’s outcome was “extremely disappointing” to him and other gay Marylanders.
“It proves that we, as a community, have a lot more work to do,” he said last week. “Politically, we’re just not there yet. That’s the reality that we face. We’re not there yet. We do not have enough political power to win what we deserve.”
Other observers agreed, noting that gay Marylanders who dreamed of winning marriage rights this session set their hopes too high.
Vic Basile, a former Human Rights Campaign executive director who lives in Baltimore, said that “it was pretty clear right from the beginning that marriage had zero chance of passing” the legislature this year.
Part of the reason for that, said Maryland Black Family Alliance Director Elbridge James, was the marriage bills lacked the backing of state Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch.
“I do not think the leadership in the House and Senate were strongly attached to the bill,” James said, “and I do not think Speaker Busch or Sen. Miller were in any way in favor of the bills or were inclined to let them hit the floor.”
Miller and Busch, both Democrats, said before the session that they would not support marriage rights for same-sex couples. Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would consider signing a marriage bill, but repeatedly noted his preference for civil unions.
Stephen Clark, a professor at Albany Law School who is gay and tracks civil rights issues, said those stances should have been a warning sign to Equality Maryland and other marriage rights advocates.
“Given those constraints,” he said, “why would Equality Maryland undertake what I would call a marriage-or-nothing campaign?”
Clark said Equality Maryland made a mistake when it chose to lobby exclusively for marriage.
“When you can’t get the leader of either chamber or the governor to endorse your marriage-or-nothing strategy,” he said, “you might consider rethinking your strategy.”
Clark, who lives in Washington, said Equality Maryland would have done better to pursue a “pragmatic compromise” than fail to achieve the ideal.
He likened Equality Maryland’s decision to exclusively pursue marriage rights to last year’s move by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force to work against a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that lacked protections for transgender people.
“Whether it’s this or whether it’s ENDA,” Clark said, “we seem to have movement leaders who are too enamored with ideology and not concerned enough about pragmatic politics.”
But Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, said it was important that the organization worked hardest to obtain that which gay Marylanders most want.
“Why would you ever ask for less than you deserve?” he said. “LGBT civil rights organizations aren’t in the business of saying, ‘Hey, would you consider treating me like a second-class citizen?’”
Furmansky also noted the organization, which last year lost a lawsuit seeking marriage rights for gay couples, was tasked by its donors, members and directors to aim high.
“If we had gone in asking for something less than marriage,” he said, “we might have walked out of this session with even less than what we got.”
The Health Care Facility Visitation & Medical Decisions bill and a measure granting domestic partners an exemption on recordation and transfer taxes were the only pro-gay bills lawmakers passed this session.
Equality Maryland had four lobbyists working in Annapolis this session. Their efforts were augmented by an American Civil Liberties Union lobbyist and two additional lobbyists HRC hired to help the state organization.
Rouse said HRC and Equality Maryland had a “terrific working relationship,” but went into the session with slightly different approaches.
“We were very upfront with our lobbyists that we wanted to support marriage equality, but we would also be supportive of civil unions or domestic partnerships, as well,” he said. “But the push was for marriage legislation.”
Furmansky dismissed suggestions that a different strategy could have yielded greater advancements.
“If there’s some sort of perception that we could have gotten more than what we got during this legislative session, people have to understand that it goes back to the Senate,” he said. “It goes back to the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee.”
The committee, which must approve any comprehensive relationship recognition scheme for same-sex couples, cast no votes this session on marriage rights, civil unions or domestic partnerships.
Among the committee’s 11 members, Furmansky said four supported marriage for same-sex couples, six were against it and one was “non-committal.”
Sens. Brian Frosh (D-Montgomery County), Lisa Gladden (D-Baltimore), Jennie Forehand (D-Montgomery County) and Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County) supported the measure, while Sens. Larry Haines (R-Baltimore and Carroll counties), Nancy Jacobs (R-Cecil and Harford counties), Alex Mooney (R-Frederick and Washington counties), Anthony Muse (D-Prince George’s County), Bryan Simonaire (R-Anne Arundel County) and Norman Stone (D-Baltimore County) opposed it. Furmansky described Sen. James Brochin (D-Baltimore County) as “non-committal.”
“Any comprehensive recognition of relationships for same-sex couples is predicated on getting through that committee,” he said. “As long as the committee is structured as it is, the LGBT community of Maryland is going to have to find a way to creatively work around it.”
Furmansky said key to that workaround is finding a way to get a bill that recognizes same-sex couples past Muse.
“We watched during the session as he told one senator after another that he was interested in a solution, that he was open to a solution, that he would look at solutions,” he said. “In the end, he turned in the most anti-gay voting record possible. If that’s how he treats his colleagues, then it’s clear he was never really interested in anything other than the attention this issue could bring him.”
Muse, a pastor who was routinely singled out by marriage rights advocates this session for his consistent opposition to a marriage bill, drew the ire of many gay Marylanders.
But some observers said Muse might be shouldering an unfair amount of blame.
“Most likely, Sen. Muse is representative of a few too many other elected officials in his opposition to marriage,” Rouse said. “We need to convince many legislators, including Sen. Muse, that same-sex couples deserve equal rights by their elected officials, by their government.”
And to turn those politicians, James said, gay rights advocates must turn voters.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work to get people to change their minds on this,” he said. “That’s why we need to get into the community and go door to door — to remove any misunderstandings that are out there.”
Marriage rights advocates had hoped Sen. Gwendolyn Britt, another Democrat from Prince George’s County and a staunch gay civil rights supporter, could sway Muse. But she died following a heart attack days after the General Assembly convened.
“Losing Sen. Britt was a devastating blow to our efforts,” Furmansky said. “We’ll never know how much more she could have contributed.”
To move forward, Basile said Equality Maryland must ask its allies, such as civil rights veteran and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), to help them reach Muse and others who aren’t listening.
“Maybe that should be on the table for the planning that’s going into next session,” Basile said. “I just don’t think that we have much moral sway with a lot of the African-American religious leaders, in this case who also happen to be legislators. We clearly need help there.”
He said Lewis might be able to help turn Muse toward a more favorable — or at least neutral — position.
“I don’t know what some of these legislators would say if they got a call from John Lewis, but I think they would be hard pressed to say no to him,” Basile said. “I think that would be difficult.”
Rouse said such tactics could prove essential for activists.
“Clearly,” he said, “the legislature is not going to give us what we deserve unless we fight and play hardball to win our rights.”
Clark said marriage rights advocates might do better next session, though, if they pursued other alternatives.
“We hear a lot of talk about how bad civil unions are,” he said. “And it’s true that civil unions aren’t perfect, but they are much better than nothing.”
But some observers disagreed. Basile said it would be politically unwise for Equality Maryland to simultaneously lobby for marriage and civil unions.
“I think they had to choose one or the other,” he said, “and the reason is if you’re asking legislators to go the whole mile with you and take the greatest risk to sign their name on to marriage, but then you say we’d settle for civil unions, you sort of undercut your leverage.”
Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County), who is gay, also said it’s important that his colleagues understand marriage equality is the best solution and anything short of that is an “inherently inferior arrangement.”
“Hopefully, by putting people in the situation where it’s marriage or nothing, you do force people who would love to take the easy way out to make the tough decision,” he said. “And you work hard to make sure they make the decision in your favor.”
Furmansky said those were among the reasons Equality Maryland pursued the strategy it did this session.
Maryland state Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) said it’s important that his colleagues understand marriage equality is the best solution and anything short of that is an ‘inherently inferior arrangement.’ (Blade photo by Henry Linser) |
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“People who really understand politics understand that fighting for marriage is the politically wise thing to do,” he said. “If you don’t go in asking for what you deserve, you’re never going to get it.”
But when it became evident this session that marriage wasn’t likely, Furmansky said he and other activists talked with lawmakers about “what would and would not be acceptable to us in the end.”
“Legislators knew what the response would be from our organization if they passed a comprehensive domestic partnership bill,” he said, “and they understood that while it would in no way short circuit our vibrant campaign for marriage equality, that we would embrace it as an important step on the road to marriage equality.”
Furmansky said Equality Maryland did not reveal to the media such conversations were occurring because “the legislative session is an incredibly dynamic period of time.”
“Marriage equality will happen in Maryland,” he said. “It will happen sooner than people think. And it was important that the legislature understand that if they passed something less than marriage equality, it wouldn’t solve the problem.”
Madaleno said as an alternative, though, civil unions would have faced an uphill battle at the General Assembly.
“I don’t know if you can come up with a scenario where even if we had come in with full steam ahead on civil unions that that would have gotten anywhere considering Sen. Muse was unwilling to even vote for the piecemeal bills, and clearly would have never voted for civil unions,” he said. “So I think it’s good to come in and ask for what you want.”
And just because that strategy didn’t yield the desired outcome, Furmansky said, doesn’t mean it failed.
“I don’t think you can say it failed if it moved forward,” he said. “Did some pieces of the agenda fail? Yes. Did some pieces of the agenda succeed? Yes.”
Basile agreed. He said the marriage bills “got further in this legislative session” than he would have expected by attracting 49 sponsors.
“I thought it was dead in the water when they were doing it, and I was impressed with the level of support that they got,” he said. “And they were one vote away from getting it out of committee. That was pretty impressive, I thought.”
Furmansky noted the progress made this year would benefit the campaign Equality Maryland and other marriage rights advocates are poised to wage in 2009.
“You have to respect that legislative battles aren’t won in one year on almost any issue,” he said, “and this is not a non-controversial topic that won’t require blood, sweat and tears to make it a reality.”
Clark, however, cautioned marriage advocates against blindly seeking “the stronger version of the bill knowing that is going to postpone — for probably years — the ability to enact anything significant.”
Furmansky said although Equality Maryland has not yet set its legislative agenda for 2009, the organization would consider all these variables before doing so.
“We think things out more than most advocacy organizations,” he said. “We hold strategy meetings all the time. And anyone has the right to question our sophistication, but I ask that person what they’re doing to contribute directly to the cause for equality. Our door is open.”
Furmansky also noted that while state lawmakers didn’t grant gay Marylanders the relationship recognition they sought this year, the first steps along that road were taken.
“On relationship recognition, same-sex couples in Maryland will have in a few months a number of rights they didn’t have a few months ago,” he said. “People have a right to feel impatient, but Maryland is on the path to full and equal protection for couples through a marriage license, without a doubt. Legislators say to me all the time, ‘It’s just a matter of time.’”
Joshua Lynsen can be reached at jlynsen@washblade.com.
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