ANNAPOLIS — The Maryland Senate will kick off a debate on the legalization of same-sex marriage as early as next week, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. said on Tuesday.
Miller, D-Calvert and Prince George’s counties, said he will try to force a vote on the issue through a motion for cloture, ahead of expectations that the floor debate will turn into a marathon.
“The motion to postpone [same-sex marriage legislation] indefinitely is not debatable,” Miller told reporters on Tuesday. “When it appears that people are just repeating themselves on and on and on, then we’ll try to get cloture.”
He said the Senate could pass same-sex marriage legislation this year in a close vote — perhaps 24-23, or 25-22, he predicted.
“I just know how people vote before they know how they’re gonna vote,” he said, “and that’s a fact.” Miller has said he would vote against the bill.
Before the bill hits the Senate floor, the Judicial Proceedings Committee must give it a favorable vote following a public hearing on Tuesday.
In years past, bills to pass same-sex marriage in the state have died in committee or shelved by the House and Senate. But not this year, Miller says.
He said he has encouraged lawmakers to feel “happy” about the debate.
“I told people to just keep smiling,” he said. “We just want people to be happy and do what’s right — do what they feel is right in their gut.”
