Editorial Advisory Board: DREAM, marriage are good for Maryland

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Last year, this board strongly encouraged the Maryland Legislature to pass two bills: one granting in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants and the other allowing same-sex couples to marry here. To its credit, the Legislature did exactly that.

Both bills now go to referendum on the November ballot.

The same-sex marriage bill (Question 6) would legalize same-sex marriages performed in Maryland. The DREAM Act (Question 4) would allow children of documented and undocumented immigrants, if certain conditions are met, to pay in-state college tuition rates. We urge the citizens of Maryland to vote in favor of both.

What we wrote last year regarding marriage equality bears repeating:

The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness, and we feel that two human beings of the same sex who are deeply in love deserve the same right to happiness as a heterosexual couple.

We wrote this because we considered the right to marry the partner of one’s choice, regardless of race, national origin, religion or gender, to be a basic personal right. We saw this right as being of comparable importance to those we depend on as the cornerstone of our society: the freedoms of speech, press and religion. And we still do.

Historically, some of these rights have been less popular than others. While we recognize and support that the use of referenda is a powerful tool that allows a majority to speak against the will of the legislature, or a constitution, we also believe that it should be thoughtfully used as a mechanism to allow a popular vote on the extension of important civil, human and association rights to minority groups. In this regard, we are mindful that it was a referendum that allowed South Carolina voters to repeal their constitutional ban on interracial marriages.

We also urged the Maryland Legislature to pass a bill that would allow qualified children of documented and undocumented immigrants the right to pay in-state college tuition rates. We wrote:

Encouraging and facilitating attainment of a college degree for all qualified students, including children of documented or undocumented immigrants, is a sound economic and social decision.

We reminded readers that college-educated people fare economically better than those without college educations, with the U.S. Census estimating that a bachelor’s degree results in 75 percent higher lifetime of earnings than merely a high school diploma. To qualify for this tuition, the children or their parents must be Maryland taxpayers, and residents of Maryland. Any other Maryland resident seeking merely in-state tuition need not establish that he or his parents pay taxes.

We believe, also, that is more likely than not that the majority of these educated people will remain in Maryland, adding value to the job pool, enhancing the economy with increased expenditures and taxes, while providing diversity and culture. We believe these reasons remain sound as the basis for voting yes to Question 4.

These are important issues, and they would not have gone to referendum if there were not strong views in opposition. We strongly encourage all voters to vote in favor of Question 4 and 6 in the November election.

Editorial Advisory Board members John S. Bainbridge, Wesley D. Blakeslee, Frederic J. Smalkin and Christopher West did not participate in this opinion. Arthur Fergenson did not participate in the opinion as to Question 4.