Dwyer leads charge for state amendment to outlaw gay marriage

Amid pounding fists, cursing from the audience and emotional speeches about civil rights and "cowardice," hundreds of people yesterday split along political and religious lines over a bill to outlaw gay marriage in Maryland.

The tension erupted early in the five-hour hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in Annapolis, when Del. Don Dwyer, R-Glen Burnie, testified in favor of his bill that would amend the state constitution to define marriage as only being between a man and a woman.

"One of the arguments that we're hearing regularly is that this is a civil right, that a black man or a black woman cannot change the color...