Dear State Legislator,

We, the undersigned, are religious organizations, congregations and clergy from a variety of faith communities across our state, and we strongly oppose any amendment to the Maryland Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. As clergy, we dedicate our lives to fostering faith and values, and we work daily to promote love, justice, and fairness for all. We believe that it is morally wrong to place the civil rights of a group of our citizenry up for a popular vote.

The religious community does not speak with one voice on the issue of marriage for same-sex couples, nor does every signatory to this document. There are a host of differences among our nation’s many religious traditions as to whether or not they will marry same-sex couples, and several denominations continue to grapple with this issue. We understand that any legal or legislative decision in favor or against same-sex marriage cannot change the constitutional right of any religious organization to refuse to marry any couple on any grounds. We support this right.

However, the Maryland Constitution stands for protecting the rights and freedom of ALL Maryland citizens, and we are resolved that it should stay that way. Our government should not start down the slippery slope of writing one group of people out of the state constitution. To do so is to deny them access to the judiciary and ensure that the equal protection clause of our Constitution applies to everyone but that group.

Throughout American history, the Constitution has been amended to protect the rights and liberties of the American people. It has been amended to abolish slavery, to protect individual liberties, and to give women and young people the right to vote. Amending our most central and bedrock state document to single out a group of people for discrimination is, quite simply, radical and wrong.

We reject attempts by any organization - including churches, religious groups and “values” organizations - to rewrite our Constitution with the aim of discriminating against any selective group of citizens, and we are joined in our belief by every major civil rights organization in the United States, including:

American Civil Liberties Union
Anti-Defamation League
League of United Latin American Citizens
League of Women Voters of the United States
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Maryland Latino Coalition for Justice
NAACP
National Organization For Women
United Farm Workers Union

Others opposed to an amendment include:

Alliance of Baptists
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Episcopal Diocese of Maryland
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington
United Church of Christ
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland (UULM-MD)

As people of faith and citizens of Maryland, we ask you to stand for the freedom of all our citizens and oppose writing discrimination into our state constitution.