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Taylor spoke of his child. When she cries, he told Wetzel, "I have to get up at night, just like a straight family does."
Wetzel was sobbing. She told Taylor that she has a gay brother.
"A lot of the language that gets out there is hateful language," she said. "It's very hard. If my religion said tomorrow that anybody can get married, I'd embrace it in a minute."
The legislation began the session with a smooth sail through the Senate, which held just a few hours of floor debate before voting 25-21 to approve the bill.
The momentum did not continue in the lower chamber.
Some of the 59 co-sponsors of the House bill backed away from it. What appeared to be an easy win in the House Judiciary Committee faltered when two co-sponsors walked out on a vote, delaying action for three days.
The legislation nearly died in committee last week, when Del. Tiffany Alston voted against it. The Prince George's County Democrat said she believes personally in the right of gay couples to marry, but based her vote on the opposition of her constituents.
House leaders leaned on committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr., who opposes gay marriage, to vote the bill to the House floor.
The next sign of trouble for the legislation came Wednesday, when a move to hand the decision directly to the voters came within nine votes of passing.
Advocates fought off other attempts to amend the bill, but could not marshal the votes for passage.
Busch said it came down to a "gut decision" to kill the bill by recommitting it to committee. He said he saved lawmakers from having to register a vote on the bill out of "fairness" because so many seemed to want more time to study the issue.
Delegates left the chamber quickly Friday, with supporters particularly unhappy.
"No one is very satisfied right now," said Del. Curt Anderson, a co-sponsor of the legislation.
Still, the Baltimore Democrat added, "What you see reflected here is exactly how it is in the state: deeply split."
Baltimore Sun reporters Yeganeh June Torbati, Annie Linskey and Timothy B. Wheeler contributed to this article.
Wetzel was sobbing. She told Taylor that she has a gay brother.
The legislation began the session with a smooth sail through the Senate, which held just a few hours of floor debate before voting 25-21 to approve the bill.
The momentum did not continue in the lower chamber.
Some of the 59 co-sponsors of the House bill backed away from it. What appeared to be an easy win in the House Judiciary Committee faltered when two co-sponsors walked out on a vote, delaying action for three days.
The legislation nearly died in committee last week, when Del. Tiffany Alston voted against it. The Prince George's County Democrat said she believes personally in the right of gay couples to marry, but based her vote on the opposition of her constituents.
House leaders leaned on committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr., who opposes gay marriage, to vote the bill to the House floor.
The next sign of trouble for the legislation came Wednesday, when a move to hand the decision directly to the voters came within nine votes of passing.
Advocates fought off other attempts to amend the bill, but could not marshal the votes for passage.
Busch said it came down to a "gut decision" to kill the bill by recommitting it to committee. He said he saved lawmakers from having to register a vote on the bill out of "fairness" because so many seemed to want more time to study the issue.
Delegates left the chamber quickly Friday, with supporters particularly unhappy.
"No one is very satisfied right now," said Del. Curt Anderson, a co-sponsor of the legislation.
Still, the Baltimore Democrat added, "What you see reflected here is exactly how it is in the state: deeply split."
Baltimore Sun reporters Yeganeh June Torbati, Annie Linskey and Timothy B. Wheeler contributed to this article.
