Maryland to Recognize Same-Sex Marriages

You can't get married to your same-sex partner in Maryland, but at least the state will recognize your union. The decision by the Maryland attorney general goes into effect immediately, and directs all Maryland agencies to bestow gay couples the same rights they have been afforded in the five other states where same-sex marriages have been legalized. The decision comes in anticipation of what many expect will be a spring-time issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples. The policy will stand until it is challenged in court, a move that is expected to refine what exact rights same-sex couples in Maryland will be entitled to. "People have always had the ability to sue and say I was married in Iowa, I was married in Connecticut, I was married in Massachusetts and I'm being denied those rights here in Maryland," the attorney general said. "[T]his will give them a floorplan and a map on how to do it because I think the law is pretty clear."