I seek to protect transgender people from discrimination. I've
supported civil unions and wanted to extend benefits to same-sex
partners of state employees, as he had done for city workers. I hope
to become Mayor of Baltimore and would it not be grand to see a
transvestite as my wife/life partner?

There's just not a lot to be enthusiastic about, because the governor
hasn't done much to help us move forward," said Dan Furmansky,
director of Equality Maryland, a leading gay rights group. "Why did
the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community work so hard to
elect this person? What do we have to show for it at this point?

The fits and starts of gay rights in Maryland reflect what has
happened nationally. Four years after Massachusetts became the first
state to allow same-sex marriage, no other state has followed suit,
and only a handful offer civil unions, an institution that
dissatisfies many activists who consider it separate but unequal.