The Maryland Insurance Administration is evaluating whether the recent ruling from Maryland’s attorney general saying the state must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states affects insurance sales.

Emergency regulations, drawn up by the MIA under the-Insurance Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler, took effect Jan. 1, 2008, mandating that health benefits be made available to any straight or gay couple in a “committed relationship of mutual interdependence” and living together for at least six consecutive months. The law requires health insurance companies doing business in Maryland to offer the coverage for domestic partners at the request of individual employers.

Douglas Gansler

Attorney General Douglas Gansler recently ruled that the state may recognize out-of-jurisdiction marriages resulting from a new law, a Maryland Court of Appeals ruling or action by a state agency. The opinion does not create law regarding same-sex marriage, but interprets the state’s overall law on recognizing out-of-state marriages.

Maryland law has defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman since 1973, and recognizes marriages performed in other jurisdictions according to the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Gansler’s interpretation of state law could come into play because Washington, D.C., is scheduled to begin accepting marriage applications from same-sex couples, starting March 3, when the congressional review period ends.

“Employers in Maryland already have the option and the means to extend health benefits to domestic partners and many are,” said Karen Barrow, a spokeswoman for the MIA, in an email to IFAwebnews.com. “Given the attorney general’s recent opinion, the agency will evaluate whether any updates or additions to insurance regulation are required.”

The federal Defense of Marriage Act allows states to decide whether to recognize same-sex marriages. Before Gansler’s opinion, Maryland law did not address recognition of same-sex marriages.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not (gay) people can get married in the state of Maryland. They cannot,” said Gansler at a press conference Feb. 24.

“What this opinion does is give a snapshot of where we are today in the United States on this issue,” said Gansler, a Democrat. “Ten years from now, every state will most likely have marriage equality, but it’s an evolving issue.”

Five states recognize marriage for same-sex couples under state law: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire. Joining Washington, D.C., are five other states – California, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington and Nevada – that recognize civil unions or domestic partnerships performed in other states, thus permitting them to have access to the state level benefits and responsibilities of marriage, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization.

Hawaii, Colorado, Maine, Maryland and Wisconsin provide same-sex couples with limited rights and benefits.  New York, and Washington, D.C. recognize marriages of same-sex couples validly entered into outside of the jurisdiction, the HRC said.

– Shauna Miller of the Capital News Service contributed to this article