Acting Locally

Last week, in my rant about the failure of the hate crimes bill to make it through Congress, I shared my thought that effective change would have to come from grass roots efforts at the local level. This story in a press release from Equality Maryland is a good example of that:



Just one month before the Maryland General Assembly convenes in Annapolis to debate the issue of civil marriage for same-sex couples, another Maryland jurisdiction has passed a resolution calling on legislators to enact The Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Protection Act. The town of Kensington joins the city of Takoma Park in formally supporting the expansion of civil marriage to include same-sex couples. The Council unanimously passed the resolution at its Monday meeting.


"The Town Council and I support this resolution because it is time to end the hardships faced by same-sex couples in Kensington and in Maryland who are legal strangers to one another," said Mayor Peter Fosselman. "We are proud to join other communities around the state and country who have expressed support for the freedom to marry, and hope Annapolis lawmakers will act swiftly in 2008 to pass marriage equality legislation."


"I think it's enormously significant for an entire community of individuals to come together and stand up for the freedom to marry," said Executive Director Dan Furmansky. "More and more Marylanders understand that the time to expand the freedom to marry is now, so loving same-sex couples may inherit one another's social security, make medical decisions for one another, inherit properly without crippling tax penalties, and provide for their children two parents with a legalized relationship."



Obviously this action is not legally binding in any way, but I'm sure the state legislators from that jurisdiction noticed.