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[MD Governor] Ehrlich Vetoes Gay Rights Bill
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| Contributor | ArmyDem |
| Last Edited | ArmyDem May 20, 2005 03:51pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Washington Post |
| News Date | Friday, May 20, 2005 09:50:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 20, 2005; 2:50 PM
Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has decided to veto emotionally charged legislation that would grant unmarried couples, including gay partners, certain rights if they register with the state.
Ehrlich (R) will detail his reasoning in a veto message to be released later this afternoon, spokesman Henry Fawell said.
The action will end weeks of intense deliberations within the governor's office on a politically sensitive issue that was championed during the past legislative session by gay-rights activists.
"Phone calls are pouring into our office from people across the state who are shocked, hurt and dismayed at how such a moderate piece of legislation conferring basic human rights could be rejected by a supposedly moderate governor," said Dan Furmansky, executive director of Equality Maryland, a gay-rights group that lobbied for the legislation, known as the Medical Decision Making Act of 2005.
Ehrlich won praise from a leading Republican lawmaker for making a "principled decision."
"The bill has a lot of flaws and a lot of unintended consequences, and I think this is the right decision," said House Minority Whip Anthony J. O'Donnell (R-Calvert). "I know the governor wrestled with this decision because he may be sympathetic to some of the intentions. But sometimes bad laws are the result of good intentions."
The bill was opposed by most Republican lawmakers, but some analysts believed Ehrlich might sign it or allow it to become law without his signature in a nod to swing voters who helped put him in the governor's mansion in 2002. |
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