ANNAPOLIS -- On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee voted to defeat a constitutional amendment that would ban marriage rights for same-sex couples. The amendment, proposed by Del. Don Dwyer (R-Anne Arundel), was killed on a 12-8 vote. All Republicans voted for the measure. All but two Democrats, Kevin Kelly (D-Cumberland) and Gerron Levi (D-Bowie), voted against the measure. While Del. Kelly has voted consistently against LGBT equality during his long tenure as a legislator, Del. Levi, of Prince George's County, is a new member of the House of Delegates.

Equality Maryland's lobbyists and staff convened an impressive array of individuals to testify in opposition to the measure. Conversely, the supporters of the amendment used phrases such as "not a part of nature," "outside of the laws of the universe," and "counter to God's design." One person actually went so far as to accuse gays and lesbians of being more likely to molest children, a falsity countered by numerous studies. One individual even compared allowing same-sex couples to legally marry to allowing someone to cannibalize another human being!

In the end, the poise, grace, and compelling testimony of those speaking against the amendment was stratospheres above those who spouted religious intolerance and moral superiority.

Many of the legislators on the committee, from Vice Chair Del. Sandy Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City) to Del. Susan Lee (D-Montgomery County), brilliantly called out the anti-gay zealots testifying for the bill.

Equality Maryland-endorsed candidate Del. Ben Barnes (D-Laurel) called out a lawyer who intimated that the equal protection clause of the Maryland Constitution doesn't apply to LGBT people because no court has found us to be a suspect class.

Del. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Chevy Chase) repeatedly challenged a Baptist conference leader about his interpretation of Leviticus, citing passage after passage about other biblical "abominations," and asking the clergy member if he would support a bill to ban the consumption of shellfish, or the wearing of clothing of two different fabrics.

Del. Todd Schuler (D-Baltimore County), whose district is moderately conservative on social issues, bravely stood up in committee to say that the amendment was simply wrong-headed, and that would be voting against it.

Del. Luiz Simmons (D-Montgomery County) used his strong legal background to call out the witnesses who clamored for a "popular vote" on the issue, saying that the idea that every issue of contention in the General Assembly should go to a public referendum was silly.

Del. Victor Ramirez (D-Prince George's) agreed, saying that the legislators are there to give a voice to the people, and those who elected the legislators know their positions on issues such as the proposed amendment.

Del. Frank Conaway, Jr., of the heavily gay populated Mt. Vernon neighborhood in Baltimore, voted to kill the anti-gay measure following a period of indecision.

Excerpts from Testimony Before the House Judiciary Committee:

"When my son or his partner is sick do they care less for each other than they would if they were a man and a woman? When one was hospitalized did the other worry less than he would have if they were a man and a woman? When one, decades from now, dies before the other will the survivor grieve any less copiously than he would if his beloved was a woman? The answer to these questions is as plain as anything I have seen or known in the nine decades I have been privileged to witness. It is as plain as the basic respect that we owe to one another if we hope to continue to live in a civil society."

88-year-old Bernice Melov, of Takoma Park, speaking about the love shared by her son, Steve, and son-in-law, Al, with whom she has lived for the past 21 years.

"To be succinct, any act of discrimination against one group is an act of discrimination against us all. The fact that legislators in this great state have brought forward this legislation is also of deep concern because of Maryland's historic, and shameful, past when the state participated in legislative bigotry and discrimination towards Blacks, Asians, other people of color and gays."

Elbridge James, Chair - Political Action Committee, Maryland State NAACP

"Justice seeks to eliminate marginalization for reasons of race, gender, sexual orientation or economic status. HB 919, the proposed constitutional amendment, seeks to marginalize. In the United Church of Christ we encourage our clergy to exercise their good conscience when it comes to marriage. The denomination does not tell our pastors whom they should or should not marry. Neither should the state."

Rev. Dr. John R. Deckenback, Conference Minister, Central Atlantic Conference United Church of Christ

"I have performed hundreds of marriages and I long ago came to realize that marriage should never be defined simply as a relationship between a man and a woman who have the benefit of a license issued by the state. These do not make a marriage. We all know couples who fit this description but are hardly in what can be described as a marriage. Marriage is about a relationship between two people who agree to love and cherish each other, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part. Your amendment misses this point completely."

Peter K. Nord, Executive Presbyter, The Presbytery of Baltimore