Bringing it down in Maryland, a la Grecque ...
[Republican] Governor Ehrlich stated clearly his opposition to civil marriage freedom during his campaign for governor, and I do not purport to speak for him here. While I respect and agree with him on so many issues and respect the religious convictions of those opposed to same-sex marriage, as a conservative Republican, I believe history, law, reason, and experience will discredit opposition to civil marriage freedom. The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that marriage is one of the most fundamental civil rights that we have as Americans under our Constitution.....
Governor Ehrlich stated clearly his opposition to civil marriage freedom during his campaign for governor, and I do not purport to speak for him here. While I respect and agree with him on so many issues and respect the religious convictions of those opposed to same-sex marriage, as a conservative Republican, I believe history, law, reason, and experience will discredit opposition to civil marriage freedom. The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that marriage is one of the most fundamental civil rights that we have as Americans under our Constitution.
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It is very difficult to express to you how hard it was coming to terms with who I am. Striving to succeed in business and professionally and be the best son, brother, grandson, godchild, nephew, cousin, and friend for so long enabled me to shield a side of me I wanted to ignore, to fight off, and to deny. Working endlessly on entrepreneurial activities in high school and college (for example, founding a weekly sports magazine once featured alongside ESPN.com in USA Today’s Baseball Weekly as one of the premier fantasy baseball websites in America), total commitment to my educational and professional pursuits, and filling my schedule entirely with family or work moments allowed me to go longer than many in denying this part of me. I did not need to date because I had work. I did not need to date because I had family commitments I wanted to keep. And, putting self-realization aside was necessary to protect my family and me from the stigma, stereotypes, and consequences of giving in to something triggered within me.
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For me, not being able to experience the traditional Greek-American dream, or my take on it, felt for so long like a life lost.
As a result of all these concerns, I thought of and seriously came close to ending my life, with the medications to overdose with and die.
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First, it is anti-conservative and antithetical to the principles of individual liberty and personal freedom to force government to stop me from partaking in a civil right essential to my place in the community. Second, this is decidedly a state issue, not a religious one. Marriage, under state law, is after all a civil bond, to provide a privilege and respected status, entitled to the state’s support and benefits. Moreover, under this proposed bill, religious institutions and groups can choose to endorse same-sex marriage or not as they see fit. Third, there is nothing more conservative than supporting freedom and there is nothing less conservative than forbidding the creation of families.
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Despite fierce Democratic opposition, Republicans passed constitutional amendments banning slavery, extending the Bill of Rights to the states, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws and due process to all citizens, and extending the right to vote to persons of all races and backgrounds. Republicans in Congress enacted the first-ever Civil Rights Act, which extended citizenship and equal rights to people of all races, all colors, and all creeds. In 1875, Republicans led the expansion of these protections to give all citizens the right to access public accommodations. Republicans initially led the fight for women’s rights. And, it was a Republican justice, John Marshall Harlan, who in 1896 declared that our Constitution recognizes “no superior, dominant class of citizens . . . In respect of civil rights all citizens are equal before the law.”
