Poll: Maryland divided on gay marriage

ANNAPOLIS, Md., May 11 (UPI) -- Mirroring a national trend, Maryland residents are almost equally divided on the issue of same-sex marriage, a poll suggests.

Of those interviewed for The Washington Post poll, 46 percent overall favored legal same-sex marriage while 44 percent opposed it and 10 percent had no opinion.

Maryland's move away from an overall clear majority opposition in past years to a nearly equal split now reflects a national trend, the Post reported Tuesday.

Among registered voters, 48 percent were in favor and 43 percent were opposed, with Democrats and independents largely favoring legal same-sex marriage while 69 percent of Republicans opposed it, the poll suggested.

Fifty-five percent of those polled said gay men and women legally married in another state should have the marriages recognized in Maryland -- a position taken by Democratic state Attorney General Douglas Gansler.

In February, Gansler told state agencies to begin granting married same-sex couples from other states the same rights as Maryland's heterosexual couples.