Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says he would legalize gay marriage if the state legislature brings it to his desk this year.
“I have long believed the way to craft a compromise is civil unions,” O’Malley said Thursday on WTOP radio, when asked whether he would sign a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in the state. “But if [the legislature] were to reach a compromise in another way, I would sign a bill like that.”
O’Malley’s comments represent a slight turn from his stance in July, when he dodged a question probing his stance on gay marriage by asserting his support of civil unions.
“I think the way to move forward is around civil unions,” O’Malley said in the July 16 interview, without addressing the issue of same-sex marriage.
Maryland recently began allowing state employees with same-sex spouses to enroll for health benefits following a February mandate from Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler that all state agencies begin recognizing out-of-state gay marriages.
The move brought Maryland closer to legalizing civil unions — another law O’Malley has pledged to sign, if passed — which would give same-sex couples certain tax benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples.
“I don’t have a crystal ball to predict how this goes,” O’Malley said on Thursday, “but I do know this: I know the people of our state well enough that for all of the differences and diversities of backgrounds of opinions, that all of us want to find a way to craft our laws in such a way that it treats people equally under the law.”
Bob Ehrlich, O’Malley’s opponent in the Maryland governor’s race, has said he does not support gay marriage or civil unions.
Every year for the last decade or so, lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills for and against gay marriage and civil unions. But the bills have never survived committee hearings.
