Tonight, Annie Linskey, who covers Annapolis for the Baltimore Sun, tweeted:
Bill passes 25-18. Arora passes. Does not vote.Basically, this means two things: 1) the marriage equality bill in Maryland took a big first step tonight by passing in the combined House Judiciary and Health and Government Operations Committees ; and 2) Delegate Sam Arora, who ran as a pro-equality candidate and purports to be a progressive, is acknowledging his conversion to homophobia.
In 2011, the marriage bill passed the Senate, but didn't make it to the House floor. This year, it will get a House vote. Keep an eye on Arora for that one. He has to realize that anti-gay behavior by elected officials who ran as allies of our community will not stand. This all begs the question we asked last year: What happened to Sam Arora's support for marriage? Still wondering.
UPDATE: Andy Towle reports there is still work to do:
At a rally last night before an evening of lobbying lawmakers, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley told marriage equality supporters they still need a few votes in the House to pass the measure.
