 The constitutional provision prohibited discrimination in equality of rights on the basis of sex.During the 1990s, attempts to both ban and legalize same-sex marriage did not pass through the Legislature.After a Maryland House of Delegates committee voted in March 2004 to reject a pair of marriage bills that would have submitted a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage to voters and invalidated same-sex marriages performed in another state or foreign country, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Equality Maryland filed a lawsuit, "Deane & Polyak v. Conaway", to challenge the existing law on behalf of nine same-sex couples and one bereaved man whose partner had died.