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Dwyer Launches Fight Against Gay Marriage

Same-sex marriage will not become legal in Maryland if Delegate Don Dwyer can help it.

Spurred into action by a lawsuit filed in July to legalize homosexual marriage in Maryland, Delegate Dwyer is marshaling Christians across the state to band together and let their voices be heard.

“The Christian community has got to take a stand,” says the Anne Arundel County Republican.

“This may well be the last blow against the America we have loved.  Marriage is the beginning of civil law; it is the first civil order ordained by God, and it is most precious to the continuance of a civil and moral society.  For this reason, the church can’t allow this to happen.”

The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court by nine homosexual couples represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, contends that the state law banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

Maryland is one of at least five states in which gay rights advocates and the ACLU have bypassed state legislatures in favor of the courts as a means to legalize same-sex marriage.

Regardless of how the Baltimore Circuit Court rules, it is expected that the case will be appealed to the Maryland Court of Appeals, a process that will probably take several years.

Although Maryland Attorney General Joseph Curran, Jr., whose office will defend the case for the state, has said that Maryland law unambiguously forbids same-sex marriage, Dwyer and other conservative legislators are skeptical that Curran will mount a strong defense.

“We have reason to suspect that the defendants in this case are sympathetic to the causes of the plaintiffs and that there may even be a deal already cut before the case is heard,” says Dwyer.

The judicial branch of government is out of control and needs to be reined in, he contends:  instead of merely applying the laws enacted by the legislature on behalf of the people, judges are “interpreting” the law, an authority they do not have.

“For this reason, I have already drafted a bill of impeachment that does not include the name of a judge, date, or case number.  But the impeachment charge is specific in that the judge, when named, will have clearly violated his oath of office and filed to uphold the Constitution of the State of Maryland,” says Dwyer.

To say that impeachment is a rarely used tool is an understatement:  the last attempt to impeach a Maryland official was in 1794, when Samuel Chase, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was brought up on a charge of holding two state offices, Dwyer notes.

In the meantime, the delegate has hopes that the Alliance Defense Fund, an affiliate of Focus on the Family, will provide legal counsel to allow him to intervene in the case.

“I want to focus my whole argument on the foundation of law, which is the State Constitution,” he says.

Dwyer points out that English common law is the basis for a 1957 Maryland law stating that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid, and that the State Constitution provides that Marylanders are granted the benefit of English common law.

But Marylanders must not remain silent and inert while the courts decide the fate of marriage in their state, he insists.

The Maryland Family Protection Lobby has thrown its support to the fight and, said Dwyer, “I’m certain that many of the pro-life groups will be assisting, and I hope, many of the churches as well.

“The campaign is literally to raise an army of 50,000 to 100,000 people willing to stand in opposition and willing, when called, to take action.

“It will involve writing letters, making phone calls, and may culminate with a call to march on the state capital.”

Dwyer, who was elected to the House of Delegates in 2002, says he has been told that he will ruin his political career by taking on this issue.

But, he says, “I don’t worry about what men think about me, I worry about what God thinks about me.

“Even if we don’t win this fight, at least Maryland can show the nation that we were not willing to give up without a battle,” says Dwyer:  “the duty is ours; the consequence belongs to God.”

To join with Delegate Dwyer, e-mail him at don@iotconline.com with the subject, “I will stand.”  His website is www.delegatedwyer.com.