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Maryland Residents Rally For Same-Sex Marriage Referendum

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Activists with MDPetitions.com rallied in the rain in Hagerstown, Md. to call for a referendum on same-sex marriage.
Elliot Francis
Activists with MDPetitions.com rallied in the rain in Hagerstown, Md. to call for a referendum on same-sex marriage.

Supporters of a referendum on Maryland's new same-sex marriage law rallied in Hagerstown, Md. on Monday. Opponents of the newly-signed law need 56,000 signatures to put the matter on up for a vote in November.

MDPetitions.com, which has been performing an online drive for signatures, helped organize the day's rally in Hagerstown, just down the street from where Gov. Martin O'Malley made a planned appearance at a police barracks.

A recent poll conducted by Opinionworks shows 43 percent of respondence say they want to overturn the law, while 40 percent say they want to keep it in place. As many as 16 percent say they are as-yet undecided.

Organizers say the Governor acted divisively in signing the same-sex marriage law, which does not take effect until January 2013, and they hope a referendum will give residents of Maryland an opportunity to weigh in.

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