Guest Post – Delaware Right to Marry on the Inevitability of Gay Marriage in Delaware

I’m posting this Guest Post on behalf of Bill Humphrey and the fine folks at the Delaware Right to Marry group, who have been fighting the fight to make sure that there is marriage equality here in Delaware. Please help to support them in any way you can.
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Yesterday I wrote the following in a post on the progressive site Daily Kos:

This afternoon, as I’m sure most of you have been, I’ve been watching [Maryland] Gov. Martin O’Malley sign the legislation to end marriage discrimination in the “Old Line State.” Here in the “First State” today, that scene is inspiring, but we’re feeling a lot less like the leaders we strive to be in the region.

Although we may be playing catch-up with our neighbors in Maryland, we’re determined not to be left behind much longer. In 2011, our legislature and the governor approved Civil Unions. We can do better and we’re not willing to settle for less than full equality. That’s why we have already drafted the “Civil Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom Act of 2013.”

Today we got some unexpected good news when our own governor, Democrat Jack Markell, who is seeking re-election this year, publicly acknowledged for the first time in an interview with Reuters that marriage equality is probably going to be passed in Delaware within the next few years.

Gay marriage in Delaware is inevitable, the state’s Governor Jack Markell said on Friday, a day after neighboring Maryland became the eighth U.S. state to legalize marriage for same-sex couples.

In an interview with Reuters Insider TV, Markell, a Democrat, said he expects that Delaware will take up same-sex
marriage legislation “probably within the next few years.”

Delaware began allowing civil unions — an institution set up to give the same rights as civil marriage, while reserving marriage for heterosexual couples — last year.

Markell noted that until three years ago it was legal in Delaware “to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation,” and said the state was moving towards greater acceptance of homosexuality.

Here at Delaware Right to Marry, we know it’s not “inevitable.” Nothing ever is. It’s going to take a lot of hard work across the state in the next couple years to end marriage discrimination. But just as Maryland’s Gov. O’Malley recently observed that the political ground had shifted rapidly on this issue in Maryland and nationally, we know that Delaware is on our side and that support is growing each month. Our partner organization, Delaware Marriage Equality, has already collected over 5,200 signatures of Delaware voters calling on the legislature to end marriage discrimination!

Simply put, Delawareans and Delaware businesses don’t want to let Maryland get all the benefits of officially recognizing the commitments that countless same-sex couples have made to each other. Because that’s what this is really all about: commitment.

Pragmatically of course, marriage equality for same-sex couples has provided demonstrable economic and societal benefits to every state where it has been instituted. I lived in Massachusetts until I moved to Delaware, and I saw those benefits firsthand, living in the first state in the nation to allow gay couples to wed. At this point, it’s just a fact of life in Massachusetts, but the benefits have been lasting. With the recent passage of marriage equality in neighboring Maryland, it is essential that Delaware end marriage discrimination as well, to maintain a competitive business edge and draw wedding tourism money to Delaware. We cannot afford for the First State to be left behind in the region.

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be asking legislators and legislative candidates to commit to making marriage equality a priority in 2013. We’re also asking for your support in raising money to promote marriage equality across the state and to support these committed candidates. In Delaware, a little goes a long way, and every dollar counts. If you can, please consider making a $30 donation today. If just twenty people donate $30 each, that would fully assist one legislative candidate this year.

If you are able to help support our campaign financially, please consider doing so today:

It’s great news today to hear our popular governor coming around on an increasingly popular idea. We look forward to working with him over the next couple years to make this a reality.

UPDATE @ 6:40 PM: Markell’s spokeswoman Cathy Rossi has confirmed that he is personally supportive of marriage equality, which is not something he has previously stated publicly.