Apparently, the Baltimore Sun is waking up to the reality that those of us who have for years followed the "family values" organizations and anti-gay "Christian" groups: they are pathological liars and if their lips are moving, assume that they are lying. Hence the new Baltimore Sun main editorial that slams the "godly Christian" folk in Maryland who are resorting to all kinds of lies and deliberate misstatements of facts to denigrate LGBT couples and push for a repeal of Maryland's marriage equality law enacted earlier this year. Here are highlights from the editorial:
The campaign to affirm Maryland's marriage equality law at the ballot box began in earnest last week when the secretary of state released the official language that voters will see when they go to the polls in November. It lays out in straightforward terms what the law does and what it doesn't do. It allows Marylanders to vote for permitting gay and lesbian couples to obtain a civil marriage license. . . .
But it didns't take long for opponents to drag out the same specious attacks they have used to great effect in other states where gay marriage has been on the ballot. Within hours of the release of the ballot language, Derek McCoy, the executive director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, the group that spearheaded the petition drive to put the law on the ballot, had telegraphed the arguments that we are likely to hear much more of in the months ahead. "Maryland parents who send their children to public schools are immediately asking how does this affect what is taught in schools," he said in a statement. "Business owners have a right to know if their personal opinions about same-sex marriage will find them in violation of the law."
Neither question has anything to do with the matter at hand, but since he asked, here are the answers: "Not at all" and "No."
The law passed by the General Assembly this year says nothing about what should or should not be taught in schools. Contrary to what opponents may try to imply, it includes no mandates about curriculum whatsoever.
As for the question of busines
owners . . . . This law has nothing to do with that, either. The gay marriage law is silent on the issue of public accommodations because that has been settled law in Maryland for more than a decade.
The opponents are resorting to spurious arguments to convince voters that the law will somehow be unfair to those with objections to gay marriages because they don't want to face the real question of fairness at stake.
Maryland's gay marriage ordinance doesn't require anyone to violate their religious beliefs or personal conscience. . . . . All it does is to remove a major vestige of discrimination from state law, and that is something all Marylanders should be able to support.
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