Maryland had a chance to be a civil rights leader in passing the gay marriage bill and threw it away ("Failure of same-sex marriage casts doubt on measure's future," March 12). It's astounding how people mistakenly believe a gay person is making a choice or following a lifestyle instead of being who that person is, which is gay.

It's as if straight people also have the choice of being straight or gay, and decide at some point in their life to choose being straight. The fact that this is illogical doesn't stop some people and also religious institutions from discriminating against gay people because of who they are.

Bill Klemer, Timonium