Dr. Ruth Jacobs of Gaithersburg is a physician. Michael J. McManus of Potomac is president of Marriage Savers. They write in the Maryland Gazette:

Gov. Martin O’Malley, in promoting same-sex marriage, wants to change the long-established meaning of marriage by promoting an illusion that gender and even biological relationships don't really matter.

Yet the healthiest children are those reared by a married mother and father.

“Marriage is the union of a husband and wife for a reason: These are the only unions that can make new life and connect children in love to their mom and dad,” says Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage.

... While children can lose their parents for many reasons, changing from Webster's timeless definition of marriage to same-sex marriage as pushed by Gov. O'Malley would mean that it is our state government that is dividing the family tree, breaking biological ties and depriving children of either dad or mom.

The Democrat President of the Maryland Senate, Mike Miller, says in a radio interview that he sees gay marriage as "an attack on the family", and that he is confident, should Maryland vote to legalize it, the people -- "a coalition of evangelicals, catholics, African Americans" - will come together and defeat it at the polls:

A reminder, as the Maryland legislative session opens, that NOM is fully committed to protecting marriage and standing with Democrats and Republicans who join us in this good cause.

This from our March 9 press release from last year:

The National Organization of Marriage today announced that it will form the "NOM PAC Maryland" in the state. NOM pledges to spend at least $1 million in Maryland to support Democratic State Legislators who cast their votes to defend the traditional marriage and oppose any Republican Legislators who vote to redefine marriage.

"It's become quite clear in recent days in Maryland that the Democratic leadership and the same-sex 'marriage' lobby will resort to any tactic, including threats and intimidation, to coerce Democratic legislators to support their agenda," said Brian Brown, President of NOM. "We want to be sure those courageous Democrats who cast their vote of conscience in favor of marriage will have a strong supporter if the radical gay activists come after them in their next primary election."

The Baltimore Sun's Maryland Politics blog on how gay marriage activists outspent us last year, but ultimately lost because the people of Maryland oppose redefining marriage:

...The Human Rights Campaign, a national group that support same-sex marriage spent $380,000. That put the group #7 of the list -- and they are playing an even more visible role this coming session. The group vastly outspent an opposing advocacy organization, The National Organization for Marriage, which supports traditional marriage. NOM put $165,000 toward influencing the General Assembly.

We welcome Wolfson's comments, acknowledging that a majority of Maryland citizens are opposed to redefining marriage. Legislators of Maryland, take note!

This from The Washington Blade (a gay newspaper):

The head of the national advocacy group Freedom to Marry startled leaders of Maryland’s campaign to pass a same-sex marriage bill in 2012 when he implied this week that organizers weren’t doing the work needed to defeat an expected voter referendum to overturn such a bill.

Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, told the Washington Blade on Monday that his group chose not to join a coalition of local, state and national groups called Marylanders for Marriage Equality. The coalition is leading efforts to lobby the Maryland Legislature to approve a same-sex marriage bill when it convenes in Annapolis in January.

“We are deeply committed, as we have been for years, to ending exclusion from marriage in Maryland and throughout the country,” Wolfson told the Blade in an email.

But he added, “In Maryland, because of the likelihood that marriage legislation can be forced onto the ballot, the key question is not just passing a bill in the legislature, but defending it against an attack campaign via ballot measure,” he said.

“Freedom to Marry has made it clear to members of the coalition and to lawmakers that our goal is to win, not simply to pass a bill, if there is not sufficient groundwork and investment in a campaign to win at the ballot,” he said.

“We have continued to press for clarity and progress on benchmarks for success, and have urged elected officials, national organizations, and advocates on the ground to show the plan, investment, and activities needed now to build public support and succeed at the ballot, not just the legislature,” he told the Blade in his email message about the Maryland marriage campaign.