Bridgette P. LaVictoire writes:

Part of it is that some Delegates, such as Jill Carter, want to consider other issues such as a child custody bill and education funding before dealing with marriage equality. Carter is one of two Delegates who support marriage equality who walked out of the committee this morning during the specially scheduled vote on the marriage proposal, thus delaying further consideration on issues that are vitally important to her.

She claims that there are “more important, or at least equally important” issues that she wants fast-tracked in the way that she feels marriage equality has been. At issue for her are the restoration of education funding for Baltimore and Prince George’s County, which Governor Martin O’Malley has cut, and her own bill to provide a presumption of joint custody to divorcing couples.

She did not mince words about the fact that this was about getting votes for her pet issues despite the lack of importance for both. As she has pointed out, the session is only about half over, and they are in the first year of a four year term. She is the critical vote on the bill to move it forward to the House for full debate, but her snit is in relation to issues which are not entirely vital for consideration. Budgets rarely get voted on quickly, and the presumption of joint custody in a divorce is probably not going to be overly controversial. (source)