Maryland: Next Battlefront for Advocates of Same-Sex 'Marriage'
by Fred Jackson and Bill Fancher
July 9, 2004
(AgapePress) - As pro-family forces continue their pressure on the U.S. Senate to pas a constitutional amendment protecting marriage, pro-homosexual forces are showing no signs of retreat.
Maryland has become the latest battlefront for homosexual activists seeking to overturn laws supporting biblical marriage. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has now sued the City of Baltimore and four Maryland counties for the right of same-sex couples to marry. The lawsuit, according to Associated Press, was filed on behalf of nine couples and a man whose partner recently died. The couples had sought marriage licenses and were denied.
Maryland law specifically defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. But the Washington Post quotes an ACLU lawyer who says the group still believes Maryland is "fertile ground" for such a challenge because the state's courts have already granted homosexual couples the right to adopt children.
Robert Ehrlich, governor of Maryland, is supportive of efforts to defend traditional marriage, which he says is "the view of most Marylanders and Americans" as well as the "cornerstone of our society." The lawsuit by the ACLU, he says, is part of that legal group's "far left agenda."
The ACLU has similar legal challenges pending in several other states, including California and Nebraska. Pro-family forces declare that is exactly why they are pushing for a Federal Marriage Amendment. They say it is the only way to protect traditional marriage from liberal judges.
Homosexual Adoption and the AMA
Indeed, Maryland may be an appropriate place for the lawsuit's challenge by virtue of that state's allowing homosexual couples to adopt -- a privilege that has been endorsed by the American Medical Association. But one Christian physician says by issuing such an endorsement, the AMA has picked political correctness over the welfare of children.
When the AMA gave its okay to homosexual adoption, the Christian Medical & Dental Associations were sharply critical of the action. CMDA president Dr. David Stevens accuses the AMA of being "held hostage" by the homosexual lobby, resulting in the AMA ignoring the scientific evidence against homosexual adoption.
"That same lobby has produced some pseudo-science to cover up what they really are trying to accomplish -- and using that literature that is not very scientifically valid, they are taking this step," Stevens says. "It's moving toward political correctness versus scientific accuracy, and that's a shame."
According to Stevens, the AMA did not touch on any of the negative impacts of homosexuality in making its decision, but instead just addressed the importance of having parents. If that is the basis for the argument, Stevens has a counter-argument: the bottom line, he says, is that homosexuals do not make good parents.
"It's bad for children to put them in that type of environment," he says. "We know that there's a greater chance those children will practice homosexual lifestyles and be subject to sexual predation [in that environment], especially in male homosexual homes."
Stevens says he believes the best way to fight against homosexual adoption and for the protection of children is through legislative action.
