Symposium Highlights Maryland Attorney General Report on "The State of Marriage Equality in America"
AUWCL’s Program on Law and Government hosted a symposium on marriage equality on Thursday, April 16. The event focused on the report “The State of Marriage Equality in America” released by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, which surveyed current marriage laws in the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.
The symposium featured Attorney General Brian Frosh, AUWCL Professor and Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin, Maryland State Senator Rich Madaleno, and Assistant Attorney General Beatrice Nunez-Bellamy. The panel of four discussed the role of states in marriage equality and highlighted the reasons why Maryland enacted marriage equality legislation in 2012.
A key component of the symposium dealt with the role animus (animosity) plays in the history of marriage discrimination and how courts can protect minorities from laws born of hate, prejudice, fear, and ignorance. “The path to equality is a long and difficult one,” Frosh said. “It took Maryland forty years to get there...it should not take that long. This is the classic case for intervention by our courts to vindicate the rights of individuals who chose their mates to be of the same sex.”
The Attorney General’s report “The State of Marriage Equality in America” is contained in the amicus briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court as they hear four marriage equality cases this spring.
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