Maryland

Gay rights advocates have drawn a select group of religious leaders to support gay marriage in Maryland ahead of Friday's hearing for the "marriage equality" bill.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has been drawing on the public support of a cherry picked group of leaders representing various faiths, including the Jewish, Catholic, Baptist and Protestant traditions, to make the argument for his 2012 gay marriage bill.

The Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, supports the gay marriage bill and told Protestants and Episcopal followers Wednesday that the Bible should inform their decision to support initiative. The Old Testament scriptures, she explained in The Washington Post, "condemns exploitative sexual activity that is the antithesis of loving, committed relationships," not homosexuality. more >>

Maryland Marriage Alliance leaders said liberals cannot bribe them into accepting same-sex marriage legalization with religious protections. The group is moving forward with a pro-traditional marriage rally planned for Monday night.

Julia Vidmar, spokesperson for the Maryland Marriage Alliance, told The Christian Post that the new religious protections built into Maryland General Assembly's 2012 gay marriage bill has not changed Christian leaders' opposition to legally recognize gay marriage.

In fact, the protections served as validation of their concerns. more >>

A Maryland County Councilman plans to introduce a bill Tuesday pushing local businesses to change public bathroom restrictions to accommodate transgendered men and women.

Tom Quirk, a freshman Democrat on the Baltimore County Council, said his proposed bill, the Act Concerning Human Relations, is meant to eliminate employer discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity.

"It's my strong belief that the only thing that should matter is someone's qualifications for a job," the District 1 representative told The Columbia Patch. more >>

As the New Year approaches, Christian leaders strategizing for a showdown over the definition of marriage in Maryland say it is essential to awake “the sleeping giant” called the church to counter gay activists and preserve religious freedom.

Maryland Marriage Alliance leader Derek McCoy told The Christian Post gay marriage is a critical religious freedom concern for Christians and people of faith.

When it comes to gay marriage, he said of gay activists, “They would like us (Christians) to get in a box and not be able to express our individual faith, not to be able to have freedom of worship, not to be able to have freedom of speech as is already guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution.” more >>

Patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., can read their favorite Gospel passages once again after a ban on the Bible and other religious texts was repealed Thursday.

"Bibles and other religious materials have always been and will remain available for patient use at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center," said a statement released today by the hospital. "The visitation policy as written was incorrect and should have been more thoroughly reviewed before its release. It has been rescinded."

Walter Reed did not return a call for further comments by press time. more >>

A 24-year-old woman from Maryland claims the Savior has appeared on the Nintendo set she bought on eBay.

Brittany Wampler spotted the image of Jesus Christ on top of one of the two newly purchased Nintendo sets she received from an eBbay seller, she told Kotaku, an online publication covering the gaming industry.

"We were inspecting it for cracks/damage and when we turned it just right into the light, the image showed up," she told Kotaku. "Our reaction was mainly curiousity [sic] at first. Then as we looked at it closer and ruled out what it couldn't be, we began to get excited about it." more >>