Gay Rights Group Endorses Brown Over Openly Gay Candidate

 By Adam Bednar

Equality Maryland, the state’s leading gay rights political action committee, has endorsed Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown’s candidacy to become the next governor of Maryland, even though Del. Heather Mizeur is trying to become the first openly gay governor of the state.

Carrie Evans, Equality Maryland’s executive director, said Lt. Gov. Brown and his running mate Howard County Executive Ken Ulman would be the most effective at advancing the group’s issues.  The group also praised Mizeur, who represents Montogmery County, and Attorney General Doug Gansler for their support.  

"Equality Maryland's PAC has worked since 2006 to help elect individuals who will fight for LGBT equality.  It is remarkable that seven years later, we have come to a point where all three Democratic candidates for Governor are enthusiastically supportive of LGBT issues," Chairman Tim Williams said in a news release.

In a statement released to The Gazette, Mizeur said it was “puzzling” for Equality Maryland to back one of her rivals for the 2014 Democratic primary and said that no one else had done more for the LGPT community that her and her running mate the Rev. Delman Coates (>>> See: Mizeur says Equality Maryland’s endorsement of Brown is ‘puzzling’ at Gazette.net.) 

The political action committee also endorsed 36 candidates for Maryland General Assembly:

State Senator

• Del. Susan Lee, District 16
• Del. Veronica Turner, District 26
• Sen. Brian Feldman, District 15
• Sen. Delores Kelly, District 10
• Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, District 8
• Sen. Richard Madaleno, District 18
• Sen. Roger Manno, District 19
• Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, District 45
• Sen. Karen Montgomery, District 14
• Sen. Jamie Raskin, District 20
• Sen. James Rosapepe, District 21
• Sen. Bobby Zirkin, District 11

House of Delegates

• Del. Charles Barkley, District 39
• Del. Kumar Barve, District 17
• Del. Michael E. Busch, District 30
• Del. Luke Clippinger, District 46
• Del. Kathleen Dumais, District 15
• Del. Tawanna Gaines, District 22
• Del. Adrienne Jones, District 10
• Del. Ana Sol Gutierrez, District 18
• Del. Peter Hammen, District 46
• Del. Anne Healey, District 22
• Del. James Hubbard, District 23
• Del. Benjamin Kramer, District 19
• Del. Stephen Lafferty, District 42
• Del. Eric Luedtke, District 14 
• Del. Aruna Miller, District 15
• Del. Peter Murphy, District 28
• Del. Dana Stein, District 11
• Del. Kirill Reznik, District 39
• Del. Barbara Robinson, District 40
• Del. Shane Robinson, District 39
• Del. Samuel “Sandy” Rosenberg, District 41
• Del. Kris Valderrama, District 26
• Del. Jeff Waldstreicher, District 18
• Del. Craig Zucker, District 14

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Patch Editor Tiffany Arnold contributed to this report.