Del. Sam Arora (District 19) has announced his wedding is next month. Congratulations to the politician who ran on marriage equality only to screw over Maryland's LGBT community twice on the issue.
Back in 2011, when MD failed to pass marriage equality:
The outrage directed at Arora is understandable. As is the sense of betrayal. He raised money from gays and lesbians based on his support for marriage equality. He secured the endorsements of Progressive Maryland and of Equality Maryland because of it. In fact, get a load of what he wrote as an addendum to his questionnaire for Equality Maryland.
I am a former law clerk to Attorney General Doug Gansler. I publicly supported his decision to recognize out-of-state marriage licenses for same-sex couples and immediately put out a release praising his findings. For me, it's simply a matter of equal rights under the law.
And in 2012, when MD passed marriage equality:
Regardless of what Arora is hiding in his political closet, his career in Democratic politics is over. A number of high-level Democratic political operatives in DC are talking ... about the best way, legally and politically, to move ahead with ending Arora's career, starting with his next election.
Del. Arora's Legislative Director resigned shortly after the vote and
among other denouncements from Dems, a
Tumblr was set up to shame Del. Arora.
If this was 1967, Maryland law would have prohibited his engagement due to anti-miscegenation laws. Oh and fun fact, Maryland was the first (1664) to ban interracial marriage in colonial America. This was the first time in American history that a law was invented that restricted access to marriage partners solely on the basis of "race", not class or condition of servitude.
Meanwhile, Marylanders for Marriage Equality is busy building up supporters for the referendum in the general election so I'll be able to get to enjoy the same civil rights as Del. Arora and my brother (who also just got engaged, and supports his gay brother).
Oh, and Del. Arora's wedding is scheduled for June 6, the same date as Capitol Pride in DC.