Who can arrange for reinterring a family member’s remains in Maryland?

Why is that relevant in the wake of the death of 50 people at a gay dance club in Orlando?

Seven years ago, I learned that the buried body of a family member could not be moved without the permission of the State’s Attorney – even within the same cemetery.

That prompted me to introduce House Bill 482, which established, in order of priority, who could approve a reburial.

When I drafted the bill, I looked to the existing law regulating when “any person in interest may request the owner of a burial site..to grant reasonable access to the burial site for the purpose of restoring, maintaining, or viewing the burial site.”

The definition of a “person in interest” in that law included a domestic partner of the deceased.

Consequently, my bill did too. The “surviving spouse or domestic partner” was given the first priority in arranging for a reinterment.

HB 482 passed the House, 107-28. All of those 28 votes against were cast by Republicans. Nine members of the party of Lincoln voted yes.  All 13 Republican Senators voted no as well.

The reference to domestic partner was the reason why.

So it should have come as no surprise that the Republican leaders in Washington, Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan, made no mention of gays in their initial statements about the deaths in Orlando.