Gay rights group: “Maryland is next!”

Posted by Aaron C. Davis on washingtonpost.com:

"An e-mail message sent Tuesday from Equality Maryland, the state's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights group says it is assembling "Action Teams" to mobilize pro-freedom to marry voters to get to the polls in November.

"The e-mail also reveals the group has a high-dollar reception scheduled next week to "thank" Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler (D) for his legal opinion in February that has led to state agencies beginning to offer same-sex couples married elsewhere equal rights as Maryland's heterosexual ones.

"'Maryland is Next! That is what we heard from literally hundreds of Pride-goers in DC last weekend. We couldn't agree more!' begins the e-mail to supporters. The message goes on to solicit donations to 'build the necessary political power on the ground in every district to shore up the votes in the Maryland State Legislature.'

"'We are under no pretense that this fight will be easy, but together we can create true and lasting equality in the Free State,' reads the e-mail, signed by executive director Morgan Meneses-Sheets.

"The group's stepped up election-year effort follows a legislative session in which debate over the freedom to marry played a central role, but at the outset of a gubernatorial race in which neither leading candidate has embraced marriage equality.

... "About the Gansler event on the June 23, the e-mail says: 'Here is your opportunity to thank Attorney General Gansler for his commitment to advancing pro-LGBT equality policies in the state, most notably his February opinion authorizing state agencies to begin the process of recognizing the marriages of out-of-state same-sex couples.'

"Tickets begin at $50, according to the e-mail, with sponsorship opportunities up to $500."

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