According to the latest Washington Post poll, black Marylanders are more likely than white Marylanders to oppose same-sex marriage. The newly formed Maryland Black Family Alliance has decided to do something to change those numbers:
‘‘About three years ago, when same sex-marriage bans began proliferating the nation, a group of African Americans across the state began saying ‘enough is enough’ and the time is now,” said James, a Rockville resident who ran for the House of Delegates last year.
Same-sex couples argue that the state is denying their right to marry.
For supporters of same-sex marriage, this is an important effort. Liberal anti-discrimination initiatives don't pass the General Assembly without strong African-American support. African-American female legislators have been leaders in the gay rights fight in the state legislature--Sen. Gwendolyn Britt (D-Prince George's) plans to introduce a pro-gay marriage bill in the Senate this year. However, not all of her African-American colleagues feel similarly:‘‘My boyfriend and I feel that we deserve all the rights and responsibilities of marriage,” said H. Alexander Robinson, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a gay rights advocacy group in Washington.
The court’s ruling ended three cases consolidated in Conaway v. Deane, which involved nine Maryland couples.
‘‘When [the lawsuit] didn’t go the way we had hoped, we realized that people don’t quite understand still what we’re trying to do for our family,” said Mikki Mozelle, one of the plaintiffs. ‘‘So, if you can bring understanding to the black community, where there is a lot of division about this, this is a good way to sit down and discuss the issues.”
‘‘I’m against gay marriage through and through, no exception,” said Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Baptist minister, who called the Black Family Alliance ‘‘a loose confederation of individuals talking loosely.”
‘‘Equating homosexuality and civil rights are not an equation as far as I’m concerned,” said Burns (D-Dist. 10) of Woodlawn, one of the General Assembly’s most vocal gay rights opponents. ‘‘Whites can hide their sexual preferences and still get all of the rights that society has to offer. I can’t hide my blackness and get the rights that I’m due, so to say that this is a civil rights issue upsets me to no end.”Black support is crucial for another reason. Any gay marriage bill will almost certainly be petitioned to referendum by the religious right. African-American support is crucial to any effort to win the battle of public opinion key to winning the referendum.
