Timonium residents Bruce Eicher and Jorge Gaitan went to Baltimore County Circuit Court Thursday afternoon to get a marriage license—at the advice of their lawyer.
"He said it was safer. If one of us died, we want to make sure the other is taken care of," said Eicher, who is 80 years old.
Thursday marked the first day same-sex couples in Maryland could obtain a marriage license, but Baltimore County's gay and lesbian residents didn't appear to be in a huge rush late in the day.
An employee at the licensing department in circuit court declined to comment on the number of same-sex couples who had sought licenses on Thursday.
Eicher and Gaitan, a 67-year-old native of Colombia, were one of a few couples to obtain a marriage license at the Baltimore County Circuit Court in the afternoon. Eicher called the occasion "anti-climatic."
"We had a civil ceremony 10 years ago in Vermont," he said. "We had all the fun and excitement then."
In a news release, Governor Martin O'Malley shared that he had signed a proclamation Thursday morning enabling Maryland courthouses to issue the licenses. The signature comes about a month after the 2012 elections, where Marylanders voted to approve same-sex marriage on referendum.
The same-sex marriage law goes into effect Jan. 1.
Eicher and Gaitan are pleased by the steps the state took to legalize same-sex marriage.
"I'm a very patient person," Eicher said of the wait before he could legalize his relationship with Gaitan. "But I'm very happy [same-sex marriage] passed referendum. I wouldn't be surprised if the rest of the country started legalizing it soon as well."
Wedding plans are up in the air for the couple, but they do intend to have a small gathering with close friends.
"I feel happy," Gaitan said. "We're making plans to have a nice vacation to Florida in March."
The folks have spoken. The battle is over and attacking these folks would make the right look stupid.
You seem to be implying that everyone on the left voted for the marriage law and everyone on the right voted against it. Wrong on both counts.
Marriage should be a private thing and the state should only have civil partnerships to cover the legal aspects of what we currently call "marriage". Then marriage could be whatever anyone wants it to be and no one would have to accept anyone else's definition of it. I think that would solve a lot of the disagreements people have had about homosexual marriage and would head off future disagreements I expect about polygamy.
There are NO Social Security Survivor benefits because the FEDERAL government does not recognize same sex marriage..... yet. :) I will be married to my partner soon and it is comforting to know that botn of our rights are protected by the law now, at least in Maryland.
Posting a ridiculously offensive statement and then whining about everyone getting 'touchy' for reacting to your words...? You posted the bigoted words, you're just going to have to deal with the reactions you get for comments like that. I don't buy the surprised act you're putting on at all.
It may seem like a harmless joke to someone who isn't affected by these harmful and often cruel stereotypes, but to people who are it's just not funny. These are real people we're talking about here that are put in the ridiculous position of having to convince the majority that their rights are valid too. I'm a fan of humor and political jokes, but this kind of 'humor' isn't about parodying something or making a point, it's about tearing other people and their relationships down. Enough.
individually.
Disclaimer: I have known Bruce professionally for well over 30 years, and I'm delighted that he is finally able to find the happiness and security that marriage will allow him. (It's too late for me, my partner died 2 years ago.)
The law has passed and so be it, but as the battle will continue at the Federal level no doubt, I think a better way to approach the dilemma is to legislate marriage out of the government. Here’s why: The word marriage has had the same basic definition in western cultures for thousands of years, and I use this culture in my reasoning because we here in the USA are an extension of this culture that has traditionally used the Bible as our reference for law and society norms ( I’m not going Bible on you). Marriage was understood by 99.9% of citizens to be between one man and one women and that they would them create as many children as possible until death do they part. No other choices afforded, no divorce, no adultery. Hell, being unmarried was thought of as being a major sin, if not close to being illegal 200 years ago.