The Maryland State Senate passed legislation on Thursday night to allow same-sex marriage. The Civil Marriage Protection Act, approved by the heavily Democratic Senate on a 25-21 vote with strong support from the majority party, would effectively legalize gay marriage without forcing religious clergy to conduct marriages of which they disapproved. It had narrowly passed two preliminary stages of approval. Senator Richard S. Madaleno Jr., a Montgomery County Democrat and the senate’s first openly gay member, hailed the vote as historic.

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