Reprint From The Star-Democrat

Same-sex couple joins challenge to Maryland definition of marriage
East New Market couple, together 61/2 years, wants same rights as heterosexuals

By Kate Slusark
Staff Writer

July 8, 2004

A Dorchester County same-sex couple wants wedding rings, and on Wednesday they joined 17 other people in a fight for them. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in the Baltimore City Circuit Court against Maryland county and city clerks and on behalf of nine same-sex couples and a gay man who recently lost his partner, all of whom have been denied marriage licenses. It argues that Maryland law, which says only "a marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this State," violates the state constitution's equal protection clause. The suit charges Dorchester, Washington, Prince George's and St. Mary's counties and Baltimore City with discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation.

Steve Palmer, left, and Ryan Killough are one of the couples the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit on behalf of in Baltimore City Circuit Court. The ACLU is suing Maryland county and city clerks in support of nine same-sex couples and a gay man who recently lost his partner, all of whom were denied marriage licenses. (Photo by Chris Polk)

Plaintiffs range from 26 to 71 years old and not only come from all over the state, but also from a variety of professions, including a former police officer, a dentist, a teacher, a bus driver and a former civil rights worker.

Lifelong Marylanders and plaintiffs Steve Palmer, 32, and Ryan Killough, 31, live south of Cambridge in East New Market and have been together for 6 1/2 years. Their "whole lives are entwined together," Palmer said. They share a mortgage, cars and a boat, but none of it is protected by law because they cannot marry in this state.

Palmer said he hopes the lawsuit will change that.

Because they cannot marry, same-sex couples can be kept from visiting each other in the hospital, serious medical care conversations and funeral arrangements, according to Equality Maryland's Web site. They also are not protected by inheritance laws, which can leave their partners with nothing when one dies.

"If something were to happen to one of us today we wouldn't be entitled to our own property, our parents would be entitled to our property," Palmer said. "But if we were married, there would be no worries trying to pay inheritance taxes on your own house."

Palmer is a nurse in a local hospital intensive care unit and a part-time paramedic. Killough also is a paramedic, has served in the U.S. Navy and will attend nursing school at Chesapeake College in the fall. Palmer said he felt the timing was right in the country to see if they, and couples like them, can gain marriage rights.

"The social climate is accepting enough that they realize there are homosexual couples out there and they have lives with each other and there are just so many legal protections that are denied to us," Palmer said. "I think it's time ... to see why these couples are denied the same rights as other couples. "

The two met at work in 1995, and started dating three years later when they saw each other at a gay night club. They have since fallen in love, raised two dogs and designed the home they share.

The couple's Methodist minister wants to perform the ceremony, according to the lawsuit, and the couple seeks a civil and religious marriage.