Opinion ID: 1477292
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Claim of Sex-based Discrimination Under Article 46 of the Declaration of Rights

Text: Appellees assert that, because Family Law § 2-201 excludes same-sex couples from marriage, the statute draws an impermissible classification on the basis of sex, in violation of Article 46 of the ERA. Specifically, Appellees reason that [a] man who seeks to marry a woman can marry, but a woman who seeks to marry a woman cannot. Similarly, a woman who seeks to marry a man can marry, but a man who seeks to marry a man cannot. Thus, because Family Law § 2-201 allows opposite-sex couples to marry but, at the same time, necessarily prohibits same-sex couples from doing so, the statute makes sex a factor in the enjoyment and the determination of one's right to marry, and is therefore subject to strict scrutiny. [13] Appellees' argument, at first glance, is beguiling. They point to several Maryland precedents that, if viewed literally, appear to support the proposition that a statute receives strict scrutiny analysis under Article 46 if sex is at all a factor in determining whether certain individuals are entitled to the benefits provided by the particular legislative enactment under review. See Giffin v. Crane, 351 Md. 133, 148, 716 A.2d 1029, 1037 (1998) ([S]ex is not, and can not be, a factor in the enjoyment or the determination of legal rights.) (citing Rand v. Rand, 280 Md. 508, 513, 374 A.2d 900, 902-03 (1977) and Barbara A. Brown et al., The Equal Rights Amendment: A Constitutional Basis for Equal Rights for Women, 80 YALE L.J. 871 (1971)); Burning Tree Club, Inc. v. Bainum, 305 Md. 53, 63-64, 501 A.2d 817, 822 (1985) ( Burning Tree I ) ([S]ex is not a permissible factor in determining the legal rights of women, or men . . . [such that] the treatment of any person by the law may not be based upon the circumstance that such person is of one sex or the other.); Boblitz v. Boblitz, 296 Md. 242, 274-75, 462 A.2d 506, 522 (1983) (holding that, after legislative passage and approval by the people of Article 46 of the Declaration of Rights, any ancient deprivation of rights based upon sex would contravene the basic law of this State). When considering those cases in context, [14] however, and because we believe that Article 46 was not intended by the General Assembly and the Maryland voters who enacted and ratified, respectively, the Maryland ERA in 1972 to reach classifications based on sexual orientation, we conclude that Family Law § 2-201 does not draw an impermissible sex-based distinction.
The Maryland General Assembly, in 1972, ratified overwhelmingly a proposed Federal Equal Rights Amendment, [15] and passed during that same legislative session Chapter 366, § 1 of the Acts of 1972. GOVERNOR'S COMM'N TO STUDY IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT, APPLICATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT 1 (1977). The General Assembly, through this legislative enactment, amended the Declaration of Rights to include an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) that tracked closely the language of the proposed federal amendment. [16] Chapter 366, § 1 of the Acts of 1972. In its final form, the amendment to the Maryland Declaration of Rights read: Equality of rights under the law shall not be abridged or denied because of sex. Id. Maryland voters ratified overwhelmingly this amendment, by a 2 to 1 margin, in the November 1972 referendum, and the amendment became Article 46 on 5 December 1972. GOVERNOR'S COMM'N TO STUDY IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT, APPLICATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT 1 (1977). The official legislative history, at least for the Maryland ERA, is not particularly instructive as to discrete legislative intent because legislative bill files were not retained systematically by the General Assembly's Standing Committees or the Department of Legislative Reference (now known as the Department of Legislative Services) until 1975. Resources useful in determining the purpose of pre-1975 legislative action are therefore limited to selected committee bill files (which do not exist for the ERA), the Legislative Council Reports to the General Assembly for 1941-1976 (which do not contain reference to the ERA), task force reports, and archival newspaper accounts published during the period. Dep't of Legislative Serv., Md. Gen. Assembly, Legislative History Resources, available at http://www.dls.state.md.51fus/side_pgs/ library_info/library_legislative_history. html (20 February 2007). We were unable to locate any formal legislative documents created contemporaneous with consideration and promulgation of the Maryland ERA that indicate the General Assembly's overriding purpose in passing the amendment. We were able to locate, however, extrinsic sources created at or about the time of the pendency of the proposed amendment and its promulgation that suggest that the intended scope of Article 46 was to prevent discrimination between men and women as classes. [17] In the time surrounding the promulgation of Article 46, for example, Governor Marvin Mandel created a commission designed to study the amendment's post-implementation affects. One of the Commission's stated purposes was to examine Maryland laws that, while not facially discriminatory, drew classifications that discriminated in their application on the basis of sex: Laws While Not Facially Sexually Discriminatory are Sexually Discriminatory in their Application or Effect: The Commission had as a precedent the considerable body of federal and state law which has declared that laws which are unoffensive facially are nevertheless racially discriminatory in their application. An example is the Supreme Court decision which outlaws literacy tests because they disproportionately exclude racial minorities. The Commission, therefore sought to identify laws, practices and procedures which in application has a disproportionately adverse affect on the sex [(women)] which has traditionally been victim of discrimination. GOVERNOR'S COMM'N TO STUDY IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT, FINAL REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR 11 (1979). In addition to documents originating from executive agencies created to study the effects of the newly passed equal rights amendment, various newspaper accounts from the period of time surrounding the 1972 electoral vote on Article 46 shed light on the intended scope of the proposed amendment. On Monday, 23 October 1972, the Washington Post published a staff-written compendium entitled Maryland Voters to Decide on Constitutional Changes, which described the various proposed amendments to the Maryland Constitution. According to the article, the amendment, sponsored by a majority of the legislators, would be effective immediately with referendum approval and would, at the least, place the state Constitution in agreement with the U.S. Constitution in assuring equal rights for men and women. This amendment is often referred to as a women's rights measure, but it also would assure men that they could not be discriminated against because of their sex. This amendment and the pending amendment to the U.S. Constitution are likely eventually to have a far-reaching impact on court decisions in the areas of family and domestic relations laws dealing with such matters as child custody, alimony and paternity cases. Douglas Watson, Maryland Voters to Decide on Constitutional Changes, WASH. POST, 23 October 1972, at B4 (emphasis added); see also 18 Referendum Issues Confront Voters, THE NEWS AM., 24 October 1972, at 3-A (The amendment is often referred to as a `women's rights' measure, but it also would assure men that they could not be discriminated against because of their sex.); Barry C. Rascovar, Feminists find new foes of ballot question, BALT. SUN, 31 October 1972, at C24 (describing the lack of male opposition to the women's liberation movement's efforts to pass the Maryland ERA). While these are but a few examples of the newspaper accounts originating around the time the ERA was ratified by the Maryland voters, they represent accurately the bulk of the articles of the time on that subject, and reinforce that the primary purpose of the ERA was to eliminate discrimination as between men and women as a class. Because the 1972 General Assembly considered in tandem the proposed federal and Maryland amendments, we find instructive also the objectives revealed by the legislative history of the federal initiative. Introduced originally in 1923 by the National Women's Party, the proposed federal amendment was introduced at every legislative session during the mid-20th century. RENEE FEINBERG, THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT 16 (1986). It was not until 1972 that the proposed federal amendment, introduced to the 92nd Congress as House Joint Resolution (HJR) No. 208 by Representative Martha W. Griffiths (Michigan) and propelled significantly by the women's rights movement occurring during that time, passed Congress by an overwhelming majority. Allison L. Held, Sheryl L. Herndon, Danielle M. Stager, The Equal Rights Amendment: Why the ERA Remains Legally Viable and Properly Before the States, 3 WM. & MARY J. WOMEN & L. 113, 116 (1997). In the House of Representatives, for example, there was much discussion of the intended scope of the proposed federal amendment. During a hearing before the House Committee on Rules, in requesting that HJR 208 be considered by The Committee of the Whole of the House on the State of the Union, Representative Thomas Phillip Tip O'Neill, Jr. (Dem., Massachusetts), then a member of the Committee on Rules, stated: As a group, women have been victims of wide discrimination. In many States they are denied educational opportunities equal to those for men. In some States they are not allowed to manage their own property and a wife has fewer property rights. Our legal system currently contains the vestiges of a variety of ancient common law principles which discriminate unfairly against women. This legislation would clarify the intent of the Congress that all irrational discrimination on the basis of sex be eliminated. 117 Congr. Rec. 35289 (daily ed. 6 October 1971) (statement of Rep. O'Neill). During that same hearing, Representative John B. Anderson (Rep., Illinois) commented: Indeed, we are being called upon today to do the chivalrous thing  to redress a wrong out of fairness and respect for women. We are being called upon once and for all to make women equal under the law of the land  remove the last vestiges of their second-class citizenship from the books. 117 Congr. Rec. 35290 (daily ed. 6 October 1971) (statement of Rep. Anderson). During the floor debate in the House, in opposing the addition of the Wiggins Amendment [18] to the proposed ERA, it was stated by Representative Herman Badillo (Dem., New York): It is clear that there is flagrant discrimination against women in this country  in employment opportunities, in the ownership of private property, in education, in a variety of Federal benefits such as social security and retirement and in numerous other areas of American society. This discrimination exists at all levels  Federal, State, and local and in both the public and private sector. Although some advances have been made in the past, there is still much to be done and meaningful and effective steps must be taken to insure that women enjoy the same rights and privileges which are now generally available to men. Existing constitutional provisions and various court decisions have failed to provide equal rights for women and we cannot depend on piecemeal legislative measures to achieve this goal. In order to avoid any undue delays or possible erroneous interpretations, a comprehensive effort is required and I believe a constitutional amendment is the most appropriate and effective device for securing equal rights for all citizens, regardless of sex. 117 Congr. Rec. 3580 (daily ed. 12 October 1971) (statement of Rep. Badillo). Many comments of similar substance appear throughout the discussion in the House, regardless of whether a particular Representative was speaking in favor of or in opposition to the Wiggins Amendment. The Senate debate concerning the proposed equal rights amendment contains sentiments consistent with that of the House. When discussing the issue on 22 March 1972, for example, Senator Charles H. Percy (Rep., Illinois) stated: Even among the [proposed amendment's] opponents, there seems to be little question but that tradition and law have worked together to relegate women to an inferior status in our society. In many cases this has been intentional, based on an archaic precept that women, for physiological or functional reasons, are inferior. This concept has lead to the implementation of laws that prohibit [among other things] women from engaging in certain businesses, managing their own properties and finances, entering into legal contracts, holding jobs which they are deemed incapable of performing, actively competing in public and private educational institutions for a quality education, and serving on a jury. 118 Congr. Rec. 9595 (daily ed. 22 March 1972) (statements of Sen. Percy). Senator Percy concluded his statements by quoting Susan B. Anthony and articulating that [n]either does the equal rights amendment lessen or demean the importance of women as wives, mothers, and mainstays of the home. Equality does not imply sameness. While the family structure is at the heart of our society and this legislation does nothing to disrupt that notion, we must recognize that women of today are different, they are aware of and willing to accept their responsibilities as citizens in a modern society and ought to be free to accept those responsibilities much as they are free to remain in the home if that is their choice. . . . . Today we will truly acknowledge that equality can no longer be legally conditioned upon sex, that women, as they assume new roles in our society, deserve as a matter of law equal treatment under the law. Id. at 9596. Speaking directly on the point of the proposed amendment and its effects on marriage between members of the same sex, it was contended by Senator Birch Evans Bayh II (Dem., Indiana) during the Senate debate that [t]he equal rights amendment would not prohibit a State from saying that the institution of marriage would be prohibited to men partners. It would not prohibit a State from saying the institution of marriage would be prohibited to women partners. All it says is that if a State legislature makes a judgment that it is wrong for a man to marry a man, then it must say it is wrong for a woman to marry a woman-or if a State says it is wrong for a woman to marry a woman, then it must say that it is wrong for a man to marry a man. 118 Congr. Rec. 9331 (daily ed. 21 March 1972) (statements of Sen. Bayh).
This Court has had the opportunity on several occasions to examine the historical underpinnings of the ERA. Since the passage, ratification, and promulgation of Article 46 in 1972, our applications of the ERA indicate that its primary purpose was to remedy the long history of subordination of women in this country, and to place men and women on equal ground as pertains to the enjoyment of basic legal rights under the law. In virtually every case where this Court had the occasion to consider Article 46, the challenged classification drew clear lines between men and women as classes. In Burning Tree I, for example, the primary question before the Court was whether deferred State real property tax assessments given to a private country club that, according to the club's bylaws, expressly prohibited women from membership was violative of Article 46. 305 Md. at 58-59, 501 A.2d at 819-20. [19] In route to concluding that such favorable treatment violated the Maryland Declaration of Rights, we discussed briefly the history and purpose of the ERA: [t]hat equal rights amendments to state constitutions were prompted by a long history of denial of equal rights for women is well recognized. As the commentators have indicated, the subordinate status of women in our society has for all too many years been firmly entrenched in our legal system, with women being excluded by law from various rights, obligations or responsibilities. Burning Tree I, 305 Md. at 63-64, 501 A.2d at 822 (citing Barbara A. Brown et al., The Equal Rights Amendment: Constitutional Basis for Equal Rights for Women, 80 YALE L.J. 871 (1971)). [20] We concluded that the [ERA] flatly prohibits gender-based classifications, either under legislative enactments, governmental policies, or by application of common law rules, in the allocation of benefits, burdens, rights and responsibilities as between men and women. Burning Tree I, 305 Md. at 64, 501 A.2d at 823 (emphasis added). [21] Consistent with this underlying purpose of the ERA, we held in Rand v. Rand, 280 Md. 508, 515-16, 374 A.2d 900, 905 (1977), that the `broad, sweeping, mandatory language' of the [ERA] is cogent evidence that the people of Maryland are fully committed to equal rights for men and women. The adoption of the [ERA] in this state was intended to, and did, drastically alter traditional views of the validity of sex-based classification. (quoting Darrin v. Gould, 85 Wash.2d 859, 540 P.2d 882, 889 (1975)); see also Giffin v. Crane, 351 Md. 133, 151, 716 A.2d 1029, 1038 (1998). In Rand, we considered the validity of a judgment of the Court of Special Appeals allocating child support obligations based, for the most part, on the sex of the parents. Despite the common law rule at the time that a father primarily was responsible for support of children born during the marriage, Rand, 280 Md. at 510-11, 374 A.2d at 902 (internal citations omitted), we concluded that, in light of Article 46, sex was not a permissible factor in the determination of child support obligations as between the mother and father: The common law rule is a vestige of the past; it cannot be reconciled with out commitment to equality of the sexes. Sex of the parent in matters of child support cannot be a factor in allocating this responsibility. Child support awards must be made on a sexless basis. Rand, 280 Md. at 516, 374 A.2d at 905; cf. Boblitz v. Boblitz, 296 Md. 242, 245, 273, 462 A.2d 506, 507, 521 (1983) (abrogating the common law doctrine of inter-spousal immunity [22] as a vestige of the past in derogation of married women). We thus determined that, after the promulgation of Article 46, as between men and women, men no longer as a class were the primary source of child support. Rather, both the mother and father fundamentally were responsible equally for the monetary support of their children born during the marriage. Appellees turn to Giffin for the proposition that sex is not, and cannot be, a factor in the enjoyment or the determination of legal rights. 351 Md. at 148, 716 A.2d at 1036. As with the other cases relied on by Appellees, we conclude, upon reflection, that Giffin does not support their argument as mounted. In Giffin, the primary issue was whether the Court of Special Appeals was correct in concluding that the sex of each parent, relative to the sex of their children born during the marriage, was a permissible factor to be considered in the grant of child custody at the dissolution of the marriage. In that case, James M. Giffin and Donna L. Crane entered, upon their divorce, an agreement whereby Mr. Giffin was awarded physical custody of the couple's two daughters. Giffin, 351 Md. at 135-36, 716 A.2d at 1030-31. The agreement provided for annual reviews by a disinterested mental health professional, at the request of the non-custodial parent, of the residential status of the children. Giffin, 351 Md. at 137, 716 A.2d at 1031. Ms. Crane requested in 1995 an annual review of the residential status of the children and, following an unfavorable recommendation by the health professional, filed in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County a petition for modification of custody. Giffin, 351 Md. at 138, 716 A.2d at 1032. The trial court granted the petition, holding that, even though both parents were otherwise qualified to care for the children, the daughters' particular need for a female influence was a necessary factor in the court's determination that the mother should be granted custody. Giffin, 351 Md. at 139-141, 716 A.2d at 1032-33. In other words, the determination of custody was based entirely on sex. Viewing the reasoning of Giffin in its context, it is clear that the Court's statement that sex is not, and cannot be, a factor related to distinctions drawn between men and women as classes. See Giffin, 351 Md. at 149, 716 A.2d at 1037 ([T]he equality between sexes demanded by the Maryland [ERA] focuses on `rights' of individuals `under the law,' which encompass all forms of privileges, immunities, benefits and responsibilities of citizens.) (citing Burning Tree I, 305 Md. at 70, 501 A.2d at 825) (emphasis added). In other words, the grant of child custody no longer could be based on pre-conceived notions, based solely on the parents' sex, concerning the care a certain parent was capable of providing. Virtually every Maryland case applying Article 46 has dealt with situations where the distinction drawn by a particular governmental enaction or action singled-out for disparate treatment men and women as discrete classes. See, e.g., Turner v. State, 299 Md. 565, 474 A.2d 1297 (1984) (invalidating a law that made it unlawful for any tavern, concert hall, or other place of variety entertainment to employ female sitters, [23] but which made no mention of males hired for the same purpose); Condore v. Prince George's Co., 289 Md. 516, 425 A.2d 1011 (1981) (determining that the aspect of the common law of necessaries obligating a husband to provide for the wife's necessities, regardless of the income of the parties, unconstitutionally burdened an entire class of citizens based on sex); Kline v. Ansell, 287 Md. 585, 414 A.2d 929 (1980) (holding unconstitutional the cause of action of criminal conversation [24] that, at common law, was available only to a man); Kerr v. Kerr, 287 Md. 363, 412 A.2d 1001 (1980) (upholding provision of Maryland Constitution providing for imprisonment for failure to pay child support because it applied equally to men and women); accord Hofmann v. Hofmann, 50 Md.App. 240, 437 A.2d 247 (1981) (rejecting an ex-husband's argument that the award of alimony payments to his ex-wife violated Article 46 on the basis that, unlike the payment of necessaries, the statute governing the award of alimony is sex-neutral such that either party to a marriage is entitled to an award of alimony if appropriate under the circumstances of the particular case). [25] Based on our precedents interpreting Article 46, we conclude that the Legislature's and electorate's ultimate goal in putting in place the Maryland ERA was to put men and women on equal ground, and to subject to closer scrutiny any governmental action which singled out for disparate treatment men or women as discrete classes. As we stated in Burning Tree I, [t]he cases construing equal rights amendments share a common thread; they generally invalidate governmental action which imposes a burden on one sex but not the other, or grants a benefit to one but not the other. . . . Burning Tree I, 305 Md. at 70, 501 A.2d at 825; see also Burning Tree I, 305 Md. at 65-66, 501 A.2d at 823-24 (That the [ERA] is essentially limited in its scope to unequal treatment imposed by the law as between the sexes is clear from our cases.). [26] Unless the statute under scrutiny This Page Contains Footnotes. grants, either on its face or in application, [27] rights to men or women as a class, to the exclusion of an entire subsection of similarly situated members of the opposite sex, the provisions of the ERA are not implicated and the statutory classification under review is subjected to rational basis scrutiny, unless there exists some other reason to apply heightened scrutiny. Turning to the language of Family Law § 2-201, it becomes clear that, in light of the aforementioned purpose of the ERA, the marriage statute does not discriminate on the basis of sex in violation of Article 46. The limitations on marriage effected by Family Law § 2-201 do not separate men and women into discrete classes for the purpose of granting to one class of persons benefits at the expense of the other class. Nor does the statute, facially or in its application, place men and women on an uneven playing field. Rather, the statute prohibits equally both men and women from the same conduct. A legislative enactment should be construed according to the ordinary and natural import of the language used without resorting to subtle or forced interpretations for the purpose of limiting or extending its operation. Massage Parlors, Inc. v. Mayor & City Council of Balt., 284 Md. 490, 494, 398 A.2d 52, 55 (1979) (quoting Burch v. State, 278 Md. 426, 429, 365 A.2d 577 (1976)). To accept Appellees' contention that Family Law § 2-201 discriminates on the basis of sex would be to extend the reach of the ERA beyond the scope intended by the Maryland General Assembly and the State's voters who enacted and ratified, respectively, the amendment. In other words, it stretch[es] the concept of gender discrimination to assert that [the marriage statute] applies to treatment of same-sex couples differently from opposite-sex couples. Dean v. Dist. of Columbia, 653 A.2d 307, 363 n. 2 (D.C. 1995) (Steadman, J., concurring).
Perhaps most persuasive here is the growing body of case law from foreign jurisdictions flatly rejecting the argument that statutes that limit marriage to unions between a man and woman discriminate impermissibly on the basis of sex. Rand, 280 Md. at 512, 374 A.2d at 903 (Cases from other state jurisdictions interpreting the breadth and meaning of their equal rights amendments are instructive in ascertaining the reach of Maryland's [ERA].). The Court of Appeals of Washington, in Singer v. Hara, 11 Wash.App. 247, 522 P.2d 1187 (1974), was one of the first appellate courts to weigh-in on same-sex marriage in light of the then-newly promulgated ERA. There, the court held that [p]rior to adoption of the ERA, the proposition that women were to be accorded a position in the law inferior to that of men had a long history. Thus, in that context, the purpose of the ERA is to provide the legal protection, as between men and women, that apparently is missing from the state and federal Bills of Rights, and it is in light of that purpose that the language of the ERA must be construed. To accept the [same-sex couples'] contention that the ERA must be interpreted to prohibit statutes which refuse to permit same-sex marriages would be to subvert the purpose for which the ERA was enacted by expanding its scope beyond that which was undoubtedly intended by the majority of the citizens of this state who voted for the amendment. Singer, 522 P.2d at 1194. The majority of federal and state courts called on to consider analogous legal challenges since then have disposed of equal rights challenges in a similar manner. See, e.g., In re Kandu, 315 B.R. 123 (Bankr.W.D.Wash.2004) (upholding the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and stating, [t]here is no evidence, from the voluminous legislative history or otherwise, that DOMA's purpose is to discriminate against men or women as a class. Accordingly, the marriage definition contained in DOMA does not classify according to gender. . . .); Hernandez v. Robles, 7 N.Y.3d 338, 821 N.Y.S.2d 770, 855 N.E.2d 1, 6 (2006) (By limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples, [the State] is not engaging in sex discrimination. The limitation does not put men and women in different classes, and give one class a benefit not given to the other. Women and Men are treated alike-they are permitted to marry people of the opposite sex, but not people of their own sex.); Andersen v. King Co., 158 Wash.2d 1, 138 P.3d 963, 987-89 (2006) (holding that the state DOMA does not discriminate on the basis of sex and cataloging the various cases from other jurisdictions interpreting their own equal rights amendments); Baker v. Nelson, 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185, 186-87 (1971); but see Brause v. Bureau of Vital Statistics, No. 3AN-95-6562 CI, 1998 WL 88743, at  (Alaska Super.Ct. 27 February 1998), superceded by ALASKA. CONST. art. I, § 25 (amended 1999); Baehr v. Lewin, 74 Haw. 530, 852 P.2d 44, 64 (1993) (plurality opinion) (determining that same-sex marriage statute drew a sex-based classification), abrogated by 1997 HAW. SESS. LAW H.B. 117 § 2, at 1247 (The Legislature shall have power to reserve marriage to opposite-sex couples.). The Supreme Court of Vermont, in Baker v. Vermont, 170 Vt. 194, 744 A.2d 864 (1999), despite holding unconstitutional the exclusion of same-sex couples from the various benefits and protections that accompany marriage, rejected the argument that a statute limiting marriages to those between a man and woman constitutes sex-based discrimination. As the Vermont court stated, [t]he difficulty here is that the marriage laws are facially neutral; they do not single out men or women as a class for disparate treatment, but rather prohibit men and women equally from marrying a person of the same sex. Baker, 744 A.2d at 881 n. 13. Because there is no discrete class subject to differential treatment, according to the court's analysis, the prohibition on same-sex marriage did not draw a sex-based classification.
Appellees counter the equal application theory by stating that the proper inquiry in this case is not whether Family Law § 2-201 singles out one sex or the other as a discrete class for disparate treatment. Rather, because constitutional rights are individual rights, the same-sex couples posit that this Court should examine how the legislative enactment affects individually each person seeking to marry. Appellees rely principally in support of this argument on Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1817, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1967), the landmark U.S. Supreme Court equal protection case in which the Court held unconstitutional a Virginia miscegenation statute despite the fact that the statute punish[ed] equally both the white and the Negro participants in an interracial marriage. [28] Loving, 388 U.S. at 8, 11-12, 87 S.Ct. at 1822, 1823, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010; see also McLaughlin v. Florida, 379 U.S. 184, 188, 85 S.Ct. 283, 286, 13 L.Ed.2d 222 (1964). The analogy to the present case is inapt. We must concede at the outset that the mere equal application of a statute does not shield automatically a discriminatory statute from constitutional review under either the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the equal protection provisions embodied in Article 24 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, [29] or the ERA. See McLaughlin, 379 U.S. at 191, 85 S.Ct. at 288, 13 L.Ed.2d 222; Loving, 388 U.S. at 8, 87 S.Ct. at 1822, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010. By the same token, however, a statute does not become unconstitutional simply because, in some manner, it makes reference to race or sex. See Massage Parlors, Inc. v. Mayor & City Council of Balt., 284 Md. 490, 398 A.2d 52 (1979) (upholding the constitutionality, pursuant to Article 46, of a Baltimore City ordinance that prohibited massage parlors from providing treatment simultaneously to persons of the opposite sex in the same room, but declining to reach on procedural grounds a separate challenge to the constitutionality of a regulation promulgated pursuant to the ordinance that allegedly prohibited heterosexual massages as between the masseuse/masseur and client). In Loving, the issue before the Court was the constitutionality of a Virginia statutory scheme prohibiting marriage between non-Caucasians and Caucasians, and providing for criminal penalties for violations. In support of the statute, the State of Virginia argued that, even though reference was made to race in determining who was entitled to marry, it punished equally both participants in the interracial marriage. Loving, 388 U.S. at 8, 87 S.Ct. at 1821, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010. The Supreme Court was able to see beyond the superficial neutrality of the legislative enactment, however, and determined that [t]he fact that Virginia prohibits only interracial marriages involving white persons demonstrates that the racial classifications must stand on their own justification, as measures designed to maintain White Supremacy. Loving, 388 U.S. at 11, 87 S.Ct. at 1823, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010. Thus, the Court in Loving determined that, although the statute applied on its face equally to all races, the underlying purpose was to sustain White Supremacy and to subordinate African-Americans and other non-Caucasians as a class. The reasoning behind this conclusion was based, at least in part, on the fact that [w]hile Virginia prohibits whites from marrying any nonwhite . . ., Negroes, Orientals, and any other racial class may intermarry without statutory interference. Loving, 388 U.S. at 11 n. 11, 87 S.Ct. at 1823 n. 11, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010. [30] The test to evaluate whether a facially gender-neutral statute discriminates on the basis of sex is whether the law `can be traced to a discriminatory purpose.' Baker, 744 A.2d at 880 n. 13 (quoting Personnel Adm'r of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 272, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 2293, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979)). And while [t]he clear and central purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to eliminate all official state sources of invidious racial discrimination in the States, Loving; 388 U.S. at 11, 87 S.Ct. at 1823, 18 L.Ed.2d 1010, the primary purpose behind Article 46 is to frustrate state action that separates men and women into discrete classes for disparate treatment as between the sexes. Absent some showing that Family Law § 2-201 was designed to subordinate either men to women or women to men as a class, Hernandez, 821 N.Y.S.2d 770, 855 N.E.2d at 11 (This is not the kind of sham equality that the Supreme Court confronted in Loving; the statute there . . . was in substance anti-black legislation.), we find the analogy to Loving inapposite. See also, e.g., Baker v. Nelson, 291 Minn. 310, 191 N.W.2d 185, 187 (1971) (determining that Virginia's antimiscegenation statute, prohibiting interracial marriages, was invalidated solely on the grounds of its patent racial discrimination.). Because there is no evidence in the record before us that the Legislature intended with Family Law § 2-201 to differentiate between men and women as classes on the basis of some misconception regarding gender roles in our society, we conclude that the ERA does not mandate that the State recognize same-sex marriage based on the analogy to Loving. See In re Kandu, 315 B.R. 123, 143 (Bankr.W.D.Wash.2004) (There is no evidence, from the voluminous legislative history or otherwise, that DOMA's purpose is to discriminate against men or women as a class.); Andersen, 138 P.3d at 989; Baker v. Vermont, 744 A.2d at 880 n. 13 (concluding that the evidence on the record before the court did not demonstrate that the authors of the marriage laws excluded same-sex couples because of incorrect and discriminatory assumptions about gender roles or anxiety about gender-role confusion); Singer v. Hara, 11 Wash.App. 247, 522 P.2d 1187, 1191-92 (1974) ([There] is no analogous sexual classification involved in the instant case because appellants are not being denied entry into the marriage relationship because of their sex; rather, they are being denied entry into the marriage relationship because of the recognized definition of that relationship as one that may be entered into only by two persons who are members of the opposite sex.), review denied, 84 Wash.2d 1008 (1974). [31]