MD HOUSE PASSES "LIFE PARTNERS BILL: From the Washington Post

The Maryland House of Delegates gave final approval yesterday to a bill that would permit same-sex couples to register as "life partners" with the state health department, a designation that would grant them the same rights as married people to make medical decisions for each other.

The measure, which advocates called a first step on the road to civil unions for homosexuals, passed on a surprisingly strong, bipartisan vote of 103 to 30 after it was expanded to include any unmarried couple, regardless of sexual orientation. Those likely to benefit include elderly couples who choose not to remarry because it could jeopardize pension and other benefits from a deceased spouse.

Gay rights activists said they were astonished by the level of support for the bill at a time when most states are focusing on how to prohibit same-sex unions in the wake of court decisions favoring gay rights.

Nearly two dozen Republicans voted for the measure, including the author of a failed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Some socially conservative Democrats also voted for the bill, including a Baptist minister from Baltimore who at first had tried to kill it.

As the vote appeared on the computerized boards that hang above the House chamber, Del. Donald B. Elliott (R-Carroll) rose to explain that he thought "long and hard" before deciding to support the measure. Elliott said he concluded that the right to care for and bury a loved one is far more important than the possibility that the measure could advance the cause of gay marriage. ...

As registered life partners, couples would be entitled to 11 distinct rights, such as visiting each other in hospitals and nursing homes, making major medical decisions in the absence of written instructions, consenting to an autopsy and arranging for a funeral.

The measure would not permit Maryland officials to "recognize, condone or prohibit" same-sex marriage or civil unions entered into in another state.

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