On Friday Jan. 20, Judge M. Brooke Murdock, of Baltimore, found that the 1973 statute which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman violates Maryland’s constitution.
Same-Sex marriages are net yet being granted because a higher court has yet to affirm them. The state attorney general is currently appealing the ruling.
The suit, Deane v. Conaway was filed by nine Maryland couples and one bereaved partner in 2004.
One of the couples in the suit is from St. Mary’s County. Steve Palmer is a member of one of the other couples involved in the suit, who lives on the Eastern Shore with his partner, Ryan Killough; he graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1993.
The Bay Net will keep you updated as the case develops.