A final vote had been expected in the House, but the overwhelmingly Democratic chamber's leaders instead withdrew it. A confluence of factors helped fracture Democtatic support, including a split among black lawmakers, the opposition of churches and trouble by some freshman lawmakers in determining what their constituents wanted.
"The vote would have been very close, make no mistake about it," said Busch, D-Anne Arundel, minutes after lawmakers returned the bill to a House committee on a voice vote, effectively killing it for the year.
The unexpected move came after two weeks of intense lobbying that included Busch meeting with delegates over the past several days to try and secure votes. He said Democrats would try again next year.
The bill to make Maryland the sixth state to allow gay marriage had already passed the Senate, and the governor said he would have signed it. Before this year, measures to extend full marriage rights to same-sex couples had never made it as far.
The Senate narrowly approved the measure two weeks ago, voting 25-21 to send the bill to the House after adding language to keep religious groups from being forced to serve gay weddings.
But the bill hit trouble in the House two weeks ago after a committee had to delay a series of votes on the issue. It ended with Busch and his lieutenants deciding it was better to save a final vote for next year, rather than put delegates on the record with a failed vote this year.
Some predicted that, if passed, the measure would have been pretitioned to referendum in the deeply Catholic state.
"I would have hoped that we could have resolved this issue and then let the people decide," said Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, after the House killed the measure. "I think an issue like this was bound to go before the people in a referendum, and I would have hoped that we would have been able to have accomplished that today."
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller had said he believes citizens would have rejected gay marriage in such a referendum.
Delegate Curt Anderson, D-Baltimore, said House leaders failed to do a good job of keeping track of where each of the party's members stood, hampering efforts to rally support. Democrats hold 98 seats of the 141-seat House.
"That system was not in place for this bill, and I think that there just wasn't enough time to get a good count," Anderson said.
The pickup of six seats by Republicans in the last election also helped erode support, said House Environmental Matters Chairwoman Maggie McIntosh, one of the chamber's openly gay members.
"If in the general election we had retained all of the Democratic seats I think we would be declaring victory today," a tearful McIntosh said.
House Democratic leaders also said they failed to secure the votes they needed from black lawmakers.
"They took the black votes for granted because they're so used to having it," said Delegate Jill Carter, D-Balitmore. "This issue was too big, people's connection to church and religion were too deep."
Several of the chamber's 33 black lawmakers took opposite sides during Friday's debate.
Delegate Jay Walker, D-Prince George's, said he would represent his majority-black district's wishes even if it conflicted with his personal views.
"If I want to truly represent my district I vote red (no)," Walker told his colleagues.
However, Delegate Keiffer Mitchell – the grandson of the legendary NAACP lobbyist Clarence Mitchell Jr. – said the debate was about civil rights.
"It is a civil rights issue when we as a state and a government deny equal protection under the law," said Mitchell, D-Baltimore.
But Delegate Emmett Burns, D-Baltimore County, a black pastor and opponent of gay marriage said the struggles of gays could not match the violence against blacks during the civil rights era.
"Those who desire to ride on our coattails are historically incorrect," Burns said.
Still, because no roll-call vote was taken on the issue, it was hard to determine where exactly the Democratic rift fell. Anderson, also a black lawmaker, said the vote had less to do with race and more to do with differences between conservative and liberal members of the party.
Delegate Anne Kaiser, D-Montgomery, another of the chamber's openly gay members, said supporters were always a few votes short of the 71 and that many factors blocked their way.
"I think in some cases it was the churches back home," Kaiser said. "I really can't explain people's motiviations. Many people who promised us their votes changed their minds."
Opponents said the decision Friday was a victory for defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.
"We took a position to support the existing definition as being between one man and woman and that prevailed," said House Minority Leader Anthony O'Donnell, R-Calvert. "I think it was the appropriate action."
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Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis contributed to this report.
