We are one Maryland, and all of us at the end of the day want the same thing for our children.
March 1, 2012 3:54 PM   Subscribe

And the eighth state to make same-sex marriage legal is... Maryland.

Governor Martin O'Malley signed the bill today, as he promised. The state's first same-sex marriage licenses will be granted on January 1, 2013. (Previously)
posted by Faint of Butt (92 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
Good for Maryland!
posted by UhOhChongo! at 3:56 PM on March 1, 2012


Marry lad!
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 3:57 PM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


Why isn't this something that comes into effect immediately? If they're expecting it to become a challenge in November, wouldn't it make more sense to have it hit the streets sooner so that it becomes more normalized in the public eye before the fundie douchebags can make a run at it?
posted by FatherDagon at 3:57 PM on March 1, 2012 [7 favorites]


more like gaymaryland amirite
posted by cortex at 3:57 PM on March 1, 2012 [8 favorites]


Virginia is for haters
posted by 2bucksplus at 3:59 PM on March 1, 2012 [17 favorites]


Oh Mary!
posted by The Whelk at 3:59 PM on March 1, 2012


And the day when every one looks back and wonders what all the fuss is about moves ever closer.
posted by dry white toast at 4:01 PM on March 1, 2012 [30 favorites]


Now begins to race to make an honest man out of sonascope.
posted by The Whelk at 4:02 PM on March 1, 2012 [13 favorites]


Waitaminute, same-sex marriage creeps south of the Mason-Dixon line before it hits California? What kind of bizarro world are we living in?

Anyway, congratulations to The Old Line State from a former Baltimoron!
posted by Quietgal at 4:09 PM on March 1, 2012 [3 favorites]


Eighth State? Ahhh, you mean US state.
posted by wilful at 4:12 PM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


42, a federal government and some territories to go.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 4:13 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Now I can put the American Visionary Art Museum on my "rent this for my dream wedding" list.
posted by Tesseractive at 4:14 PM on March 1, 2012 [5 favorites]


Far too late for Omar.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 4:14 PM on March 1, 2012 [12 favorites]


Quietgal, DC's had it for two years.
posted by MrMoonPie at 4:16 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


But soon enough for Kima!
posted by The Whelk at 4:16 PM on March 1, 2012 [3 favorites]


Seems like a good thread to post this important analysis of the consequences of gay marriage.
posted by Abiezer at 4:18 PM on March 1, 2012 [4 favorites]


Although Rawls doesn't strike me as the marrying type.
posted by The Whelk at 4:20 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


This was bought and paid for by the cake lobby and tuxedo rental industry.
posted by desjardins at 4:21 PM on March 1, 2012 [4 favorites]


There are worse things then being in the pocket of Big Cake. Fondant subsidities for everyone!
posted by The Whelk at 4:22 PM on March 1, 2012 [8 favorites]


I think I read that the bill's proponents agreed to delay the effective date to after the referendum in order to pick up votes needed to pass it. Obviously this is less than ideal, but it was probably a compromise worth making in order to make the status quo bias work for the side of equality to some extent.
posted by burden at 4:22 PM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


They've finally caught up with Iowa. Meanwhile, Minnesota is threatening to go the other direction. Damn the Republican party to hell.
posted by Mental Wimp at 4:23 PM on March 1, 2012


In before Maryland!

(I'm a Washingtonian)
posted by gurple at 4:27 PM on March 1, 2012


Sadly, gay marriage in Maryland will make an honest man out of me by eliminating the protection I've had of being able to say I refuse to attend weddings because of my moral principles, so now I'll just have to come clean and admit that I just hate weddings and am just a curmudgeonly grouch who feels panicky in a tie, can't stand family drunkenness, and would rather be obsessively watching Farscape in my pyjamas with my dogs while drafting plans for the tiny, tiny house I'm planning to build some day soon.

But yeah, it's a very happy day for those who have someone around the house.
posted by sonascope at 4:30 PM on March 1, 2012 [23 favorites]


> Quietgal, DC's had it for two years.

Yeah, I know. But DC doesn't count - it's not a state, you guys don't even have a vote in Congress! But mostly I'm mad at DC because you taunted me for years with your wonderful museums, monuments, and Metro while I was stuck in Charm City, the Armpit of the Universe.

posted by Quietgal at 4:31 PM on March 1, 2012


!
posted by drezdn at 4:41 PM on March 1, 2012


Clearly the answer is to have John Crichton marry Sonascope.
posted by The Whelk at 4:41 PM on March 1, 2012 [3 favorites]


Mental Wimp: They've finally caught up with Iowa. Meanwhile, Minnesota is threatening to go the other direction. Damn the Republican party to hell.
According to supporters, although same-sex marriage is already outlawed in the state, they hope to reinforce the law with the proposed measure. Pointing to the state of Iowa in which a similar ban was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2009, Sen. Paul Gazelka said, "I want to give the people of Minnesota the opportunity to protect the definition of marriage from activist judges."
(Emphasis mine)

Damned Civil Rights Activists, progressing civil rights and whatnot!
posted by filthy light thief at 4:41 PM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


Only eight? I thought things were progressing much more quickly. C'mon, step it up! We're well into the 21st century here!
posted by five fresh fish at 4:43 PM on March 1, 2012


Merry land!
posted by maryr at 4:46 PM on March 1, 2012


Why isn't this something that comes into effect immediately? If they're expecting it to become a challenge in November, wouldn't it make more sense to have it hit the streets sooner so that it becomes more normalized in the public eye before the fundie douchebags can make a run at it?
SEC. 2. No law enacted by the General Assembly shall take effect until the first day of June next after the session at which it may be passed, unless it contains a Section declaring such law an emergency law and necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health or safety and is passed upon a yea and nay vote supported by three-fifths of all the members elected to each of the two Houses of the General Assembly. The effective date of a law other than an emergency law may be extended as provided in Section 3 (b) hereof. If before said first day of June there shall have been filed with the Secretary of the State a petition to refer to a vote of the people any law or part of a law capable of referendum, as in this Article provided, the same shall be referred by the Secretary of State to such vote, and shall not become a law or take effect until thirty days after its approval by a majority of the electors voting thereon at the next ensuing election held throughout the State for Members of the House of Representatives of the United States. An emergency law shall remain in force notwithstanding such petition, but shall stand repealed thirty days after having been rejected by a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon. No measure changing the salary of any officer, or granting any franchise or special privilege, or creating any vested right or interest, shall be enacted as an emergency law. No law making any appropriation for maintaining the State Government, or for maintaining or aiding any public institution, not exceeding the next previous appropriation for the same purpose, shall be subject to rejection or repeal under this Section. The increase in any such appropriation for maintaining or aiding any public institution shall only take effect as in the case of other laws, and such increase or any part thereof specified in the petition, may be referred to a vote of the people upon petition (amended by Chapter 681, Acts of 1977, ratified Nov. 7, 1978; Chapter 588, Acts of 2002, ratified Nov. 5, 2002).
They can't implement the law until June 1st. By then the Secretary of State of Maryland will know whether the ballot is on (18,579 signatures need to be submitted by May 1st) and given the controversial nature of the law its presumed it will go to referendum. If it goes to referendum the law cannot be implemented until 30 days after the election if voters approve it. Give it three weeks to print out new forms, educate staff and update any computer systems and you get... 1st of January 2013.

Trying to push the date forward to the 1st of June does absolutely nothing but give ammunition to conservatives accusing "liberals" of pushing gay marriage down everyone's throats as soon as possible to "entrench" it.
posted by Talez at 4:51 PM on March 1, 2012 [5 favorites]


You'd think the right would love gay couples since their abortion rate is so low.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 4:52 PM on March 1, 2012 [4 favorites]


You'd think they'd love gay marriage too given that they keep harping on about the family unit being the building block of America. But here we are.
posted by Talez at 4:53 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


sonascope: Sadly, gay marriage in Maryland will make an honest man out of me by eliminating the protection I've had of being able to say I refuse to attend weddings because of my moral principles, so now I'll just have to come clean and admit that I just hate weddings and am just a curmudgeonly grouch who feels panicky in a tie, can't stand family drunkenness ...

Clearly, sir, you have been to the wrong weddings. I was married wearing red converse, while or officiant had his vintage Batman cons. My wife wore fancy shoes, but danced barefoot after her fancy shoes (which she wore to give her added height, in a minor attempt to diminish the 1 foot difference in our heights). Our wedding cake was a graveyard, with custom cake toppers of the bride and groom as zombies, and the groom's cake was a volcano, complete with dry ice smoke and frosting lava. Our first dance was to the Monster Mash, played on a 7" record.
posted by filthy light thief at 4:54 PM on March 1, 2012 [6 favorites]


Far too late for Omar.

On the other hand, he never seemed like the marryin' kind of guy, after the first season...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:55 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


I have attended a wedding that was "ren fair themed" so the parents wouldn't notice it was a wiccan ceremony and included a Jester who's job it was to launch catty comments during the ceremony ala MST3K
posted by The Whelk at 4:56 PM on March 1, 2012 [8 favorites]


Oh! which BY THE WAY, was in Maryland!
posted by The Whelk at 4:56 PM on March 1, 2012


.

(For traditional family values)
posted by MattMangels at 4:57 PM on March 1, 2012


������
(For traditional family values)
posted by idiopath at 5:03 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


God damn it, California, we could have been second... SECOND! Now we're going to be ninth or tenth at best.
posted by Huck500 at 5:03 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Question on technicalities and definition of legality - Is gay marriage considered not legal in California even though prop 8 has been found unconstitutional albeit with a stay in place pending appeal? Or would it be considered technically legal but not implemented?
posted by TwoWordReview at 5:08 PM on March 1, 2012


The Whelk: ... included a Jester who's job it was to launch catty comments during the ceremony ala MST3K

Isn't that "ala traditional Jesters," or was the Jester backlit, with two puppets to create a group dynamic? Because if it was the latter, that would be all the more awesome.
posted by filthy light thief at 5:15 PM on March 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


it was a drunk chubby homosexual in academic robes making loud bitchy jokes about the ceremony.
posted by The Whelk at 5:21 PM on March 1, 2012


it's the job I've always wanted, basically.
posted by The Whelk at 5:22 PM on March 1, 2012 [12 favorites]


is gay marriage considered not legal in California even though prop 8 has been found unconstitutional albeit with a stay in place pending appeal? Or would it be considered technically legal but not implemented?

Well, weirdly enough, it's technically legal and reality for about 18,000 couples who managed to get married before prop 8 passed.
posted by mr_roboto at 5:33 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Fuck yeah, crabcakes for everyone!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 5:39 PM on March 1, 2012


MetaFilter: just a curmudgeonly grouch who feels panicky in a tie, can't stand family drunkenness, and would rather be obsessively watching Farscape in my pyjamas with my dogs
posted by hippybear at 5:43 PM on March 1, 2012


!
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 5:47 PM on March 1, 2012


Makes the state's motto all the more prescient: "Fatti maschi, parole femmine" ("Manly deeds, womanly words")
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:49 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


!
posted by theplotchickens at 6:01 PM on March 1, 2012


"Trying to push the date forward to the 1st of June does absolutely nothing but give ammunition to conservatives accusing "liberals" of pushing gay marriage down everyone's throats as soon as possible to "entrench" it."

BUT THEY'D BE RIGHT!
posted by Blasdelb at 6:02 PM on March 1, 2012


I am profoundly disappointed in both my home and current states (I'm looking at you New Jersey and California!) for being beaten to the bandwagon by a 'Southern' state. Kudos to Maryland though and my best wishes for society-destroying happiness to all soon-to-marry gay Marylanders!
posted by supermedusa at 6:12 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Go Maryland! It still boggles my mind the the concept is even up for debate at all, anywhere though. But then again, I'm opposed to the idea that marriage should be regulated in any way at all - by religious or "legal" authorities.
posted by blaneyphoto at 6:17 PM on March 1, 2012


Tesseractive - Rent the Barn, not the sterile Jim Rouse Visionary Center. It's cheaper, your guests have access to the museum as part of the deal, and you can get married on the stairs. They've ruined my garden since I left, alas, but you can see the lights of passing cars flickering across the disco ball of the mosaic wall over the plaza, which was my project.

I didn't much care for weddings at the Visionary when it was my job to prepare and clean up the wreckage afterward, but it's a magical space.
posted by sonascope at 6:22 PM on March 1, 2012 [4 favorites]


sonascope, perhaps you'd have been more comfortable at the Spaceballs-themed wedding I officiated.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:29 PM on March 1, 2012


...I just hate weddings and am just a curmudgeonly grouch who feels panicky in a tie, can't stand family drunkenness...

...depends on the family?

������
(For traditional family values)


Is that the Maryland State Flag?
posted by ovvl at 6:57 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


'Southern' state

Maryland is not a Southern state. I'm from just across the border in Northern Virginia, and evern WE didn't consider ourselves very Southern growing up, close to DC and all. Still considered the rest of VA Southern. But Maryland? No.

More liberal than us though, by a lot a lot.
posted by sweetkid at 7:38 PM on March 1, 2012


Maryland is not a Southern state.

If you go towards the panhandle it gets a lot like West Virginia, where it was to hilly for slavery. Formerly economically very liberal, now very confused, but still socially very conservative. Bay folk were also very socially conservative, but their own thing that wasn't really Southern and wasn't really Northern, and now mostly gone. Eastern shore folk arn't that liberal either.

If you only knew DC there is a lot more Maryland that you've missed. The moment you get out of commuting range you can find proper hollers around the hills to the north west, even without electricity or indoor plumbing.
posted by Blasdelb at 8:09 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Maryland is not a Southern state.
posted by sweetkid


Well, it sure as heck isn't a New England state, right? I've spent plenty of time living in SC and VA - everyone I know would fully agree that MD is a southern state. Seems bizarre that you'd suggest otherwise.
posted by blaneyphoto at 8:47 PM on March 1, 2012


Eastern shore folk arn't that liberal either.

True, you've got a point there. But growing up we'd never considered Maryland to be Southern is all.
posted by sweetkid at 8:48 PM on March 1, 2012


everyone I know would fully agree that MD is a southern state. Seems bizarre that you'd suggest otherwise.

I was born and raised in Maryland and I'd agree that it's not "Southern." If I had to give it a label like that, I'd go with "Mid-Atlantic."

A writer I know has said that Baltimore, particularly, has "Northern charm and Southern efficiency" which seems about right.

And w00t for Maryland's legislature and Governor O'Malley! I hope the citizens don't fuck this up when it (in all likelihood) goes to referendum in November. I'm glad that as far as I can tell, the Orthodox Jewish community I grew up in seems to be kind of apathetic about this--or at least, there's no evidence of their contribution to the "Marriage is one man and one woman" Maryland Marriage Alliance that created the petition to put this on the ballot.
posted by needs more cowbell at 9:01 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


I've spent plenty of time living in SC and VA - everyone I know would fully agree that MD is a southern state.

To quote a bad Seinfeld impersonation, Who are these people? As a Maryland native, I get that there are people to the north of us who think we're Southern, but to the south of us? Hell, no -- many Southerners don't include us in their fold (no skin off my nose, frankly), and the farther south you go, the more you'll find this to be the case.

If we were a "true" Southern state, per the orthodoxy of certain dead-enders on the right, there'd be nothing to celebrate today, and we'd instead be debating something like the "it's essentially state-sanctioned rape" abortion bill like our neighbors on the Wrong Side of the Potomac (TM), or a bill to ban same-sex marriage, as they're doing in North Carolina (another state I used to call home) and all too many other states.

And as an aside, the Mason-Dixon line was never meant to be a division between "the North" and "the South." While it's understandably come to be the shorthand for that dividing line, it's really nothing more than a surveyor's line that -- if my memory serves (and it often doesn't) -- was to settle once and for all a border dispute between PA and MD.

Maryland is basically the Mid-Atlantic. We've got a southern fringe and an Appalachian thing going on in the far west, but the bulk of the population -- and thus the bulk of what can be said to define the state -- is along the I-95 corridor.
posted by CommonSense at 9:09 PM on March 1, 2012 [3 favorites]


According to supporters, although same-sex marriage is already outlawed in the state, they hope to reinforce the law with the proposed measure. Pointing to the state of Iowa in which a similar ban was overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2009, Sen. Paul Gazelka said, "I want to give the people of Minnesota the opportunity to protect the definition of marriage from activist judges."

Sad facts: Paul Gazelka is a relative of mine. They used to be die-hard Catholics before becoming born-agains. We are all from Minnesota.

Happy Facts: my brother is gay, and just married his partner of several years in Iowa, where they now live. My parents march in the gay pride parade every year and have been heavily involved in PFLAG for many years. Both my mother and father are lifelong (and now retired) Navy veterans, who proudly support and lobby for gay rights.

Needless to say, this causes some "friction" at times. :)

I really don't get the candidates who run for office on anti-gay platforms. I can understand if you don't like it, or whatever, but to make it a big focus... that's too much attention on something that is mostly a personal, private thing. It's like running a senate campaign against blowjobs. What gives?

As always, I believe those who yelp so loudly against homosexuality are doing so to be heard over the din of their inner gay voices, trying to come out.
posted by EricGjerde at 9:11 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


This south thing is pretty funny because having lived for a significant time in clearly North / South states, its interesting that all my southern friends disagrees with the posters here and nobody I know in the NYC area would consider MD a northern state. Perhaps the literal middleground?
posted by blaneyphoto at 9:49 PM on March 1, 2012


Mid Atlantic is not a tough concept to grasp people. It's the middle, it starts at the top of Connecticut and ends at the bottom of Maryland, that's wh those two places are transitional zones between New England/ Mid Atlantic/ Coastal South
posted by The Whelk at 10:00 PM on March 1, 2012


Mid Atlantic is not a tough concept to grasp people.
posted by The Whelk


I think CT considers itself part of New England. MD is still a southern state in my opinion and all of the people I know who've lived in DC/VA/MD area.
posted by blaneyphoto at 10:07 PM on March 1, 2012


Mid Atlantic is not a tough concept to grasp people.

Actually, it might be. I never would've thought New York -- let alone Connecticut -- would be considered "mid-Atlantic." (And I say this as a former resident of both those states -- yeah, as you can see, I've lived in more than a few states in the US . . . though I currently live in MD and grew up here as well.) CT is New England/Northeast; NY/NJ/PA are Northeast. Central and southern NJ can also be called mid-Atlantic, as can eastern (or at least southeastern) PA. There's going to be a fair bit of overlap.

MD/DE are pretty much solidly mid-Atlantic, but by some definitions may get an honorary membership in the Northeast.

OK, I'm getting way too deep into this . . .
posted by CommonSense at 10:09 PM on March 1, 2012


MD is still a southern state in my opinion and all of the people I know who've lived in DC/VA/MD area.

Count me as a Marylander (TV-friendly "generic American" accent and all) who solidly disagrees.
posted by CommonSense at 10:11 PM on March 1, 2012 [3 favorites]


Let me suggest another way of defining it: Look at our politics.

Yeah. Not southern. (Especially not today . . . and with that, my attempt to bring this derail back on-topic!)
posted by CommonSense at 10:12 PM on March 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Connecticut only considers itself part of New England so it can get a a discount at Land's End. It is a transition state between New England and Mid Atlantic cause we need these DMZs or the Bostonians and New Yorkers will kill each other.

Likewise Maryland is the most Northern Southern State and the most Southern Northern state.
posted by The Whelk at 10:14 PM on March 1, 2012


Maryland is the most Northern Southern State and the most Southern Northern state.
posted by The Whelk


Ha... well, I guess maybe that's probably true.
posted by blaneyphoto at 10:28 PM on March 1, 2012


Maryland is the most Northern Southern State and the most Southern Northern state.

And all this time I thought Missouri was the state of compromise between the North and South.
posted by hippybear at 10:31 PM on March 1, 2012


Oh, you.
posted by The Whelk at 10:35 PM on March 1, 2012


As a Buffalo native, I have a hard time considering New York to be Mid-Atlantic. Northeast, sure. But Mid-Atlantic seems like another way to forget that there's stuff that isn't NYC (plus, too far north to be 'mid'). [/inferiority complex]

YAY MARYLAND. Is there another area mascot that the Boh guy can marry? Sorry Utz girl, I guess you were just a beard.
posted by troika at 12:01 AM on March 2, 2012 [3 favorites]


Google it, but there's already artwork of Boh marrying Boh and Utz Girl marrying Utz Girl (even though the latter is a PA thing.) Saw it on Reddit. (Sorry -- are we not supposed to mention that website?)
posted by CommonSense at 1:00 AM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's funny—I tend to use the term "mid-Atlantic," but to me, there's just Delaware and New Jersey in that grouping (New Jersey is not the state that everyone thinks it is, because so few people ever manage to grasp that the NJT is not the whole state).

Maryland is properly Southern, a split state during the Civil War (the guns on Federal Hill pointed into Baltimore), and is simultaneously liberal and conservative in the sense that our political Schrödinger's cats coexist in a swirling cloud of uncertainty in the voting booth. We've got a strong tradition of liberal Republicans, mountain fruitcakes, and more sociological microclimates than a state slightly larger than a postage stamp should rightfully have, ensured largely by the fact that our state looks geographically a bit like the mark left behind by someone stepping on a large spider in mid-stride.

We have the foresight of bigotry to have banned gay marriage here in 1973, but our strange little corporation-engineered new town, Columbia, included protections for queer folk in its charter in 1967. We're the spookiest of the spook states, with the NSA, Fort Meade (where I was once detained while chasing a drug blimp in a frog-colored Saab Sonett, but that's another story altogether), and Fort Detrick, for all your biological warfare needs. We've got a New Deal coop planned city so progressive that Joe McCarthy tried to stab it to death with a highway, mysterious military facilities, and some fraction of your friends and neighbors will always cough and change the subject when you ask what they do for a living.

There is not one single establishment in the entire state where you can get a slice of pizza that's a tenth as good as a slice from a shitty hole-in-the-wall in Manhattan, but in my little town, halfway between Baltimore and DC, we have a gay sports bar frequented by straight blue collar mechanics watching the game, newly-liberated military men, and rowdy lesbians playing bingo.

I can't agree that we're "all one Maryland," alas, because we are an insanely mixed-up state, and I'm not entirely sure we're going to hang onto this victory, which depends on large chunks of our population not showing up at the referendum and other large chunks shaking off their liberal malaise. We'll see what happens.

I'm still not going to your damn wedding unless it's jeans & t-shirts and a picnic in the woods somewhere near Cumberland, where the trains call from the valley like lonesome bagpipers and vultures pause to hork up something horrible on the picnic tables.
posted by sonascope at 3:47 AM on March 2, 2012 [6 favorites]


Trying to push the date forward to the 1st of June does absolutely nothing but give ammunition to conservatives accusing "liberals" of pushing gay marriage down everyone's throats as soon as possible to "entrench" it.

I shouldn't even be awake right now, and am probably a bit emo, but it occurs to me that there is at least one other impact it would have - although whether or not this is a meaningful thing in the greater scheme of things I don't know. But there are, I imagine, a number of gay couples in the state of Maryland who want very much to get married, who are unable for whatever reason to marry in another state, and one of whom will not be alive by January 1st 2013.

I mean, that's probably not a strong legislative argument - this will not be a large number of people, and clearly there are rules here, and the right would indeed no doubt scream the place down - but it's still kind of sad that they can't.
posted by running order squabble fest at 4:33 AM on March 2, 2012


Why isn't this something that comes into effect immediately?

Primarily because an amendment delaying the implementation was critical to the bill's passage, garnering two votes in the State Senate (25-22 for passage rather than 24-23 for defeat).
posted by dhartung at 5:20 AM on March 2, 2012


Connecticut only considers itself part of New England so it can get a a discount at Land's End. It is a transition state between New England and Mid Atlantic cause we need these DMZs or the Bostonians and New Yorkers will kill each other.

This is truth. More specifically, it's EASTERN Connecticut that's the transition zone - WESTERN Connecticut is the 6th Borough of New York City.

And no idea whether New York State is Mid-Atlantic - parts I've seen are kind of like New England, actually, while New York City exists in a bubble of alternate quantum reality which somehow is intruding from a universe which is simultaneously more and less sane than this one.


I'm still not going to your damn wedding unless it's jeans & t-shirts and a picnic in the woods somewhere near Cumberland, where the trains call from the valley like lonesome bagpipers and vultures pause to hork up something horrible on the picnic tables.


....I kind of want to go to that wedding too now.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:58 AM on March 2, 2012


I'm still not going to your damn wedding unless it's jeans & t-shirts and a picnic in the woods somewhere near Cumberland, where the trains call from the valley like lonesome bagpipers and vultures pause to hork up something horrible on the picnic tables.
posted by sonascope at 6:47 AM on March 2


Well mine was at Patapsco in a big stone pavillion, overlooking the valley. With a 1000 (or close enough to it) hanging from the ceiling. we had catered Chinese food, and The Hula Monsters (RIP Dave) played our wedding march, and had Yuengling and hard cider. oh and my brother (my best man) had bright blue dyed hair.

and a good time was had by all.
posted by ShawnString at 6:02 AM on March 2, 2012


shit....1000 paper cranes.
posted by ShawnString at 6:18 AM on March 2, 2012


As a former Marylander who's back in Virginia, I can attest to Maryland being a southern state. There were times while I was living on the eastern shore in Maryland when it was hard for me to believe that Maryland is actually north of Virginia.
posted by emelenjr at 7:01 AM on March 2, 2012


The Whelk: "Mid Atlantic is not a tough concept to grasp people. It's the middle, it starts at the top of Connecticut and ends at the bottom of Maryland"

I'd actually draw the line somewhere around Fredericksburg, VA. No matter what a few old curmudgeons from Fairfax and Loudoun might say, the DC Metro area ain't southern.

Richmond's also rapidly becoming less southern, and will likely be a "city to watch" over the next decade. It's got all the ingredients -- they're finally starting to sort out their social issues, dirt-cheap high-quality housing stock, an incredibly well-educated population that seems to be pretty loyal to the area, not to mention easy access to the commercial/governmental sectors in DC, and the thriving industrial/military scene in Hampton Roads.

Hampton Roads also doesn't really fit in to any of these regional subcategories. It's a bit of an oddball: a sprawling, economically-successful, blue-collar, majority-black, increasingly-well-educated, almost-urban industrial area and port city in the South. Geographically, it's not too far from North Carolina or the hills of Virginia, but culturally, it might as well be 1,000 miles away (though there is some bleed-through). It's also depressingly bland, nondescript, and despreately in need of better urban planning, but I digress...

emelenjr: "There were times while I was living on the eastern shore in Maryland when it was hard for me to believe that Maryland is actually north of Virginia."

The Eastern Shore of Maryland is further south than many parts of Virginia. Go ahead; look at a map. Assateague is 70 miles due-south of Silver Spring, and 100 miles due-north of the VA-NC border (and Silver Spring is still a good 30 miles south of the northermost point in VA).
posted by schmod at 7:17 AM on March 2, 2012


Reminder for North Carolinians: voting is on May 8th, not November 6th.
posted by K.P. at 7:19 AM on March 2, 2012


troika: "As a Buffalo native, I have a hard time considering New York to be Mid-Atlantic."

New York's got bits of Mid-Atlantic, New England, and the Midwest (especially Buffalo).

It's not hard to grasp that the big states transcend a lot of cultural boundaries. Hell, even Jersey's got at least 2-3 very distinct parts, and that state's tiny!
posted by schmod at 7:19 AM on March 2, 2012


Gov. Martin O'Malley: Why I Signed Same-Sex Marriage into Maryland Law.
posted by ericb at 7:36 AM on March 2, 2012


For a very interesting take on regional America that goes way beyond simple Northern/Southern divide, I highly recommend Colin Woodard's book "American Nations". Maryland is mostly, (under his divisions), a Tidewater State, with Appalachian and Midlands sections.
posted by jetsetsc at 9:25 AM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's not hard to grasp that the big states transcend a lot of cultural boundaries. Hell, even Jersey's got at least 2-3 very distinct parts, and that state's tiny!
posted by schmod at 7:19 AM on March 2 [+] [!]

Well yeah. Calling NY 'Northeast' covers the entire state. Calling it 'Mid-Atlantic' places undue emphasis on downstate (as if NYC is the only culture that matters). I have unreasonably strong and argumentative opinions on NYS geography, though.

Back on topic (sort of), there's a great O'Malley quote in ericb's link. “We are one Maryland and all of us at the end of the day want the same thing for our children,” O’Malley said. “We want them to live in a loving, caring, committed home that is protected equally under the law.” I like when a liberal gets to the "but what about the CHILDREN!!?!?" stuff first.
posted by troika at 9:47 AM on March 2, 2012


Since we're covering the whole gamut of politics and north-south orientation, let me just throw in here that a few years ago I visited Tangier Island, VA, which is best reached from Salisbury, MD. There's not much land on Tangier--the place is primarily water and what land there is is crowded with homes and graves which are built in front yards. The place is environmentally about as fragile as any place I've visited.

That said, everyone on the island was hard-core Republican. They had no problem with the fact that pollution was quickly eliminating their main source of income (crabbing) and threatening their secondary source (tourism) since rising water levels will surely doom the entire place. When I asked someone why they would support politicians who clearly did not have their best interests in mind, they looked at me with a vacant stare.

I'm amazed that Maryland, just a frisbee-throw away, would be so progressive. Kudos.
posted by kinnakeet at 10:09 AM on March 2, 2012


Well, Virginians tend to be grumpy about Maryland regulations on the Bay because they're still mad that our territory goes right to their banks because of very old treaties. Plus, Virginia is evil.
posted by sonascope at 11:04 AM on March 2, 2012


Congrats Marylanders! Except to those who will try and repeal it. To you: go fuck yourself. No one is destroying your family, so stop destroying their's.
posted by Theta States at 1:19 PM on March 2, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's a state with a lot of history, which becomes more and more densely compressed as you head up the Potomac and Shenandoah Valleys where the three states come together. You really can't avoid Civil War history up there, though I suppose the days are gone when you could pick up bullets.

Anyone who thinks that defending marriage as the union of one man with one woman is necessary to preserve the heritage of Maryland hasn't been walking over the country on their own feet and looking around with their own eyes. The history of the state isn't something you can take away like that. It's in the bricks, the stones. At the same time, it isn't affected by what individuals do today with their private lives and relationships.

FWIW, I live in Maryland, near the District
posted by bad grammar at 4:50 PM on March 2, 2012


MD! famous for nothing (least of all being my place of birth) coming out on top for once! Praise be to Carcetti.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:59 PM on March 2, 2012


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