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From The Associated PressNew laws take effect Wednesday in Md.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
ANNAPOLIS - Legalizing gay marriage remains an elusive goal for activists in Maryland, but gay couples are gradually achieving some of the same rights as married heterosexual couples.
The latest example, which takes effect Wednesday with a variety of other new laws, exempts domestic partners who co-own homes from the state inheritance tax.
Maryland levies no inheritance tax on property passing to spouses, children, parents, grandparents, stepchildren, stepparents and siblings under current law. Others pay a 10 percent tax on the property's value, a tax that applied to domestic partners until the change in the law.
Lawmakers approved legislation last year to allow same-sex partners to make medical and burial decisions for each other. Domestic partners also became eligible last year for tax benefits that married people receive when transferring property.
Maryland's highest court ruled in 2007 that lawmakers may change state law to allow same-sex couples to marry. Gay-marriage legislation was introduced in 2008 and in the last legislative session, but lawmakers did not take action on either bill.