 Judge Harrell said that the ERA was intended to prohibit sex discrimination against women and did not apply to this case, which he said was a matter of sexual orientation.Judge Lynne A. Battaglia wrote a dissenting opinion stating that the statutes and ordinances in Maryland barring discrimination based on sexual orientation, in addition to the state's lack of prohibiting LGBT adoption and its recognition of same-sex couples as co-parents, support the argument that denying committed same-sex couples the full benefits and privileges of marriage is not related to any rational government interest.Judge Battaglia said she would have remanded the case to circuit court for a full trial in order to settle what she deemed a central factual issue