Rep. Elijah Cummings Comes Out of Closet on Hesitation About Marriage Equality // Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger Still Hiding

PLUS: Rep. Elijah Cummings & Dutch Ruppersberger Reject DOMA Repeal Effort

As we get closer to the November showdown over marriage equality in Maryland, we are finding out more about the character of our members of Congress. We previously knew that six out of eight Democratic congressional nominees now support equality (John Delaney, Donna Edwards, Steny Hoyer, Wendy Rosen, John Sarbanes and Chris Van Hollen). We now know that Rep. Elijah Cummings and Dutch Ruppersberger do not appear to support full civil rights for LGBT families or the repeal of DOMA  - *rolling my eyes*

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Sen. Ben Cardin Talks Dream Act, Marriage Equality, DOMA & More // PLUS: Netroots Nation Photo Album

Maryland Juice had the opportunity to shadow U.S. Senator Ben Cardin this weekend, as he talked to various groups at the Netroots Nation conference. The annual gathering of progressive, Internet-based organizers brought together a few thousand people to share strategies and talk issues.

Sen. Cardin was there to speak on a panel titled the War on Voting Rights. MarylandReporter today carried coverage of the Senator's talk (excerpt below), which compared the Republican push to scrub voter rolls and make voting more difficult to the Jim Crow laws of the past:

MARYLAND REPORTER: “These laws are the new Jim Crow laws of our times,” said Maryland U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin on a panel about “The War on Voting” at Netroots Nation, a large conference of progressive activists. “This is really an effort to control the outcome of elections” and not protect “the integrity of our electoral system.”

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO & PHOTO COVERAGE: Below see exclusive content from Maryland Juice, including various videos of Sen. Cardin's remarks. We captured video of him talking to LGBT activists, organizers from various communities of color, and more. Senator Cardin gave surprisingly candid remarks about the political and electoral dynamics regarding DOMA, the Dream Act, marriage equality, immigration reform, racial profiling, judicial nominations and much more. See seven videos below.

Within his comments, Sen. Cardin noted that senior members of the Senate were impeding reforms that could help President Obama clear judicial nominees. He also promised to raise the Maryland marriage equality ballot effort at every campaign stop, but also stated that the chances of DOMA repeal this year looked very difficult.

See the videos of Cardin's comments below, along with a photo gallery of Maryland politicos at Netroots Nation. As always, feel free to use any of my content as you see fit, with or without attribution.

NETROOTS NATION 2012 - PHOTOS OF MARYLAND POLITICOS (full album online)

Gun Advocates Cheer On House Passage of Rep. Roscoe Bartlett's Concealed Gun Law // A Window Into Bartlett's World

Maryland Juice spotted Maryland Congressman Roscoe Bartlett's name in an op-ed from today's Las Vegas Journal Review. The piece, titled "Carrying legal pistols across state lines," was a flashback to a Massachusetts office shooting eleven years ago. Strange, right? The article (excerpted below), however, provides some interesting insight into the views of the 6th Congressional District's embattled incumbent:

"When Michael McDermott walked into the offices of an Internet consulting firm and shot seven people dead, he had an accomplice -- the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," writes Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America.

"Tragically, one of the victims was a legal gun owner who was licensed to carry in next-door New Hampshire," Mr. Pratt points out. "But Massachusetts law prevented him from carrying his firearm in the state and on the job...."

[He] would probably have had his gun with him if Congress had passed a law -- first proposed by Maryland's Roscoe Bartlett several years ago -- requiring states to recognize the concealed handgun carry permits of other states, as they recognize other states' drivers licenses, Pratt points out....

Since Rep. Bartlett's bill failed to become law, the House of Representatives now tries again. By a bipartisan vote of 272-154, the House on Nov. 16 passed H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011, would allow gun owners with valid state-issued concealed firearm permits to carry concealed in other states that also allow concealed carry....

Indeed, Mr. Bartlett has been a longtime cosponsor of bills like the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, and gun owners are getting excited now that the bill has passed the U.S. House. As the effort moves to the Senate, Mr. Bartlett is already moving on to new gun rights endeavors. His current project is to bolster gun rights through HR 2252, the Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2011. The text of the bill notes some interesting views:

Equality Maryland to Mikulski: "1996 Called, They Want Their DOMA Back" // Same for Ruppersberger & Cummings

UPDATE: Minor correction from Sen. Cardin's office about the timing of his support for DOMA-repeal: "FYI, the Gazette had it slightly off. Senator Cardin signed on as a bill cosponsor in May, not July."

Last week, the Washington Blade reported that Equality Maryland and its allies are pushing hard to get Senator Barbara Mikulski on board for repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA):

The senior U.S. senator from Maryland is facing increasing pressure to sign on as a co-sponsor of legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act amid plans to win marriage equality in her state in 2012....

An informed source said the senator would make an announcement regarding her support for the Respect for Marriage Act in September.

DOMA defines marriage as an opposite-sex endeavor and allows states to ignore same-sex marriages granted out-of-state. The 1996 law was approved overwhelmingly by Congress and signed into law by President Clinton. Over a decade later, Obama campaigned against it. But 15 years later, it finally feels like the ground is moving....