How Did the Delegates Vote? Part One

Over the course of today, I am going to try to present some information about how delegates voted on the amendments to the marriage equality bill yesterday.

Four amendments came up for roll-call votes in the House of Delegates; all failed. Del. Donoghue's (D-Washington) amendment would have allowed adoption agencies to turn down adoptions by same sex couples without legal recourse; it failed 58-79. Del. Afzali's (R-Frederick) amendment would have given teachers the authority to not teach about "homosexuality" in public school curricula; it lost 54-86. Del. Serafini's (R-Washington) would have changed the title from Civil Marriage Protection Act to the Same-Sex Marriage Act; it went down 52-85. Del. Braveboy's (D-Prince George's) amendment would have required through a convoluted process contingent on the passage of a separate constitutional amendment that the bill go up for a referendum; it failed 63-72.

This first post covers delegates from Montgomery and Republicans--two groups of delegates that voted overwhelmingly as blocs against and for the amendments, respectively, with very few exceptions.

All 24 delegates from Montgomery County are Democrats. All voted against all four amendments with the exception of Del. Sam Arora (D-19) who voted for the Donoghue amendment on adoption by same-sex couples.

Among the 43 Republican delegates, all voted for all four amendments with the except of three delegates who voted against the Serafini amendment to change the title of the bill: Del. Robert Costa (R-33B, Anne Arundel), Del. Patrick Hogan (R-3A, Frederick), and Del. Nicholaus Kipke (R-31, Anne Arundel).