MARYLAND: Gov. Martin O'Malley Says He'd Sign A Marriage Equality Bill

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that if a marriage equality bill were to reach his desk, he would sign it. O'Malley had previously only gone as far as endorsing civil unions.

"I don't have a crystal ball to predict how this goes," O'Malley said, "but I do know this: I know the people of our state well enough that for all of the differences and diversities of backgrounds and opinions, that all of us want to find a way to craft our laws in such a way that it treats people equally under the law." O'Malley said he personally believes that allowing for civil unions would be the best way to reach a compromise in the legislature. But he added that "should the legislature find a way to reach that compromise in another way, I would sign a bill like that ... we need to find a way to support equal rights, and that is true when it comes to committed gay and lesbian couples and the unions in which they choose to enter and raise children and all the issues that go with that."

Maryland's legislature has yet to vote on the issue, where it would face a stiff battle in state Senate, but could succeed in the more progressive state House. O'Malley is presently tied in the polls in his reelection campaign against former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich.