Maryland Marriage Case is about Fairness for All

Meredith Moise
Associate Director of Religious Affairs

As I sat in the MD Court of Appeals on Monday listening to arguments for and against same sex marriage in the state, I was struck by the civility in the court room. Yes, this was a court room, the highest court in the state of Maryland. However, the issue before the court has been anything but civil. There has been lots of hate mongering and fear spewed in this argument about same sex marriage. But the issue at hand is not about what the Bible says or how churches feel or what the pastor says. The issue is really about fairness for gays and lesbians before the law.

The truth is that if gays and lesbians are allowed to tie the tie knot in Maryland, no minister, rabbi or pastor will be compelled to marry them. No church will be forced to marry a same sex couple. Growing up in the Roman Catholic tradition, I was taught that a priest will not perform the marriage rite if one of the two candidates for marriage was divorced.

Ministers, priests, pastors and rabbis have always had their choice of who they perform weddings for. That will not change if same sex couples are allowed to marry. What will change is the inherent unfairness that now exists for gay and lesbian couples and their children. With the right to marry, these couples will now have access to over 1000 protections that come with a marriage license. These protections include the right to inherit property, visiting one's partner in the hospital, gaining custody and guardianship of the children in the event of a partner's death, etc.

These and other protections are vital to the health and well being of all families. Simply to deny these protections to gay and lesbian couples because of their sexual orientation is not only unfair, it is un-American.

Many African Americans take offense to the same sex marriage movement calling this a civil rights issue. However, Julian Bond, the illustrious chairman of the NAACP, has labeled the marriage movement a civil rights cause. He recognizes that marriage is a fundamental institution in our society and that by excluding gays and lesbians from that institution, American society is denying them the right to properly care for their families by barring them from vital legal protections.

During the days of Jim Crow, Black people were systematically prohibited from enjoying the protections that American democracy afforded. Equally, they were denied the ability to fully participate in a system they helped to create with hundreds of years of slavery.

Conversely, gays and lesbians have contributed so much to the culture, health and stability of our democracy but are systematically locked out of it because of their inability to marry. And although one system of oppression is never identical to another, oppression is oppression. We will not have a free society until all of us are allowed to fully participate in it. By allowing gays and lesbians to marry, America will move closer to this dream of full democracy where everyone is judged by the contents of their heart and mind and not by race, class, creed or sexual orientation.