Freedom is Freedom for Everyone

The above quote is one of the most concise and elegant statements in favor of marriage equality that has ever been made. And its author is none other than:

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney.

In the first of many benefits to follow from the Presiding Officers’ decision to post committee votes online, we ask you to examine the House Judiciary Committee vote on HB 90, a bill by Delegate Emmett Burns (D-10) that would forbid Maryland from recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages. The motion on the bill was for an unfavorable report, meaning those who voted Yea opposed the bill and those who voted Nay supported it. The committee voted for an unfavorable report by 12-8, with one Delegate excused and the Chair customarily not voting.

The Democrats voted 12-2 for the unfavorable motion, with only Allegany County Delegate Kevin Kelly (D-1B) and Delegate Gerron Levi (D-23A), who is running for Prince George’s County Executive, supporting the bill. Of the four African-American Delegates on the committee, three - Curt Anderson (D-43), Jill Carter (D-41) and Frank Conaway (D-40) – voted for unfavorable, while only Levi backed the bill. All six Republicans – Don Dwyer (R-31), William Frank (R-42), J.B. Jennings (R-7), Susan McComas (R-35B), Michael Smigiel (R-36) and the disgraced Tony McConkey (R-33A) - voted in support of the bill.

These Republicans should heed the words of conservative icon Dick Cheney, who said this about marriage equality:

I think that freedom means freedom for everyone... I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish.

Isn’t there a single Republican in Annapolis who believes in freedom?