As expected, the Maryland House of Delegates will vote on marriage equality legislation today at 11 a.m. EST. Prior to the vote, however, the state's House Judiciary Committee will consider a last-minute amendment to the bill added Thursday night that would grant religious groups the freedom to continue discriminating against same-sex couples. The provision, experts believe, make the legislation more likely to recieve the 71 votes necessary to pass.

We'll keep you updated on Maryland's push for marriage equality as the story develops.

We want marriage equality to pass in the Maryland House of Delegates tomorrow. But not everyone feels the same way. Maryland Catholics for Equality is reporting that out-of-state calls are flooding the Statehouse's phone lines to voice bigoted pleas for inequality.

So, listen up: If you're a fabulous Marylander, give Annapolis a call to let your reps know that you're a constituent and that you'd like them to vote in favor of marriage equality on Friday. 

Phone number: 1-800-492-7122

Be sure to provide your address so the office knows you're a resident!

The big gay news of the day -- the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention -- ultimately boils down to the 15-minute opening remarks given by President Obama and the First Lady.

A highlight of Michelle Obama's speech: 

But parents aren’t the only ones who have a responsibility.  We all need to play a role -- as teachers, coaches, as faith leaders, elected officials, and anyone who’s involved in our children’s lives.  And that doesn’t just mean working to change our kids’ behavior and recognize and reward kids who are already doing the right thing.  It means thinking about our own behavior as adults as well.

We all know that when we, as adults, treat others with compassion and respect, when we take the ...

While unsurprising, yesterday's pledge by Speaker John Boehner to spend tax-payer dollars to defend DOMA still left many shocked.

But not all in the gay community are as appalled. The Independent Gay Forum's David Link thinks "Boehner gets it right."

Boehner does mention that ultimate authority of the judicial branch, which is strange because that authority is, to the most conservative members of his party, a one-way ratchet.  To their way of thinking, courts have authority to declare DOMA constitutional, but if they declare it unconstitutional, they will be judicial activists, defying the elected branches.  That charge is as predictable as the sun rising in the east.

So now we have a situation where the Speaker of the House ...

What a hero! Brendon Ayanbadejo, linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens, has just uploaded a YouTube video message urging delegates in Maryland to pass marriage equality legislation. As speculated all week, Maryland's House of Delegates is set for a Friday vote on the legislation.

"This should not be a subjective issue. Gay and lesbian couples want to marry for similar reasons as we all do: love and commitment. It's time to allow them the opportunity to build a family through marriage. It's a matter of fairness. This is why I'm asking Marylanders to join me in supporting marriage equality for same-sex couples."

Swoon!

We're not always fans of the changes Facebook institutes, but at Thursday's White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, the world's most popular social network announced an anti-bullying strategy that we can certainly applaud. 

Mashable has the deets:

Facebook’s changes boil down to two main aspects: an improved safety center with more multimedia resources, and better, more social tools for reporting offensive or bullying content.

In addition to reporting harassing or TOS-violating content directly to Facebook, users now have two important options that are more social and more community-centric. Within the reporting options interface, the targeted user can choose to privately message the user who posted the stressful or offensive...

Open this post to watch (or listen if the video feed is not working) a live stream of the White House's conference on bullying, with opening remarks from President Obama and the First Lady. Starts at 10:30 a.m.

Highlights so far: President Obama says he is "heartbroken" by the bullying epidemic in America's schools. The president adds that combatting bullying is "a responsibility we all share."

More as the conference unfolds. 

Expected but disturbing news is breaking across the worldwide web and coming from news outlets across the nation right now. The weepy ol' Orange One, or Speaker of the House, John Boehner is going forward with our taxpaying dollars to defend DOMA in court since the Obama administration announced the president found that a key section of DOMA was unconstitutional, and was no longer going to have his administration defend the discriminatory law.

Now there are questions that come to light and HRC has shared some of their concerns (via their press release):

1.     There are at least nine federal lawsuits -- spanning three appellate courts and four district courts in six states -- challenging the constitutionality of Section...

The presidential anti-bullying conference we told you about in February is slated for Thursday, and ahead of the historic White House event, President Obama and the First Lady have reached out to their Facebook followers with a video PSA. Sure, a few flat jokes pepper the thing, but the heart is there.

For those whose opinion of the president has been on the fence, how have his recent actions (DOMA, a devotion to combat the bullying epidemic) factored into your approval of his job?

Now that the Maryland House has pushed debate on marriage equality to Wednesday, openly-gay delegates are appealing to their fellow state congressmen to vote in favor of the legislation.

The six delegates write in a letter, "Colleagues, we need you. Please vote yes. ... Vote yes because you know it is the right thing to do. Vote yes because you want to stand on the right side of history. Vote yes because every family in Maryland needs the protections that marriage provides."

The Maryland House is expected to arrive at a vote for marriage equality legislation on Friday, with the results being predicted as a toss-up. Governor Martin O'Malley has pledged to sign the bill into law should it arrive on his desk. 

In autumn of 2010, President Obama uploaded an eloquent video to the It Gets Better Project, receiving applause from the community. Next week, he will increase his anti-bullying efforts by holding a conference to instruct community leaders on bullying prevention methods.

“On Thursday, March 10, President Obama, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services will welcome students, parents, teachers and others to The White House for a Conference on Bullying Prevention,” a White House statement reads. “The conference will bring together communities from across the nation who have been affected by bullying as well as those who are taking action to address it. Participants will have the opportunity to talk ...

Updated at 1:30 p.m. EST:

The scheduled vote on marriage equality today in Maryland's Judiciary Committe has been delayed due to two absent voting members of the House.

Baltimore Delegate Jill Carter and Prince George's County Delegate Tiffany Alston were absent during the vote. The two Delegates are included in the numbers necessary needed to pass marriage equality. While the chamber waited 15 minutes and endured heckles from the committee's Republican members, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Vallario announced he would delay the vote. According to Chairman Vallario, the Committee will try for a vote again later today.

Reported NECN earlier this week:

If the committee — where bill sponsors hold a one-seat majority — ...