 After the Court of Appeals upheld the statutory ban on same-sex marriage in 2007, State Senator Gwendolyn Britt of Landover Hills, along with delegates Victor R. Ramirez and Benjamin S. Barnes, sought to sponsor a marriage bill in the Legislature.On January 12, 2008, Britt died of heart failure.Equality Maryland executive director Dan Furmansky, who originally approached Britt to sponsor the legislation, said her death was a "devastating loss, but civil rights struggles are greater than any one person, and as our fight for equality in Maryland continues, her spirit will be with us."