if american men want to date foreign women....

Maryland men who wish to communicate with foreign women may need to visit their local police station if a highly controversial proposed Maryland bill (HB 596) becomes law. HB 596 recently introduced into the Maryland General Assembly by Delegate Joanne Benson would shockingly require Maryland residents to submit to criminal background checks before communication can begin if they use an international dating or pen pal site.

Perhaps the most appalling provision would potentially require Maryland men to provide to the Central Repository “a complete set of legible fingerprints taken at any designated state or local law enforcement office…” before they can initiate communication with a foreign woman. This is the type of draconian government intrusion into the personal sphere that Joseph Stalin would have approved.

Penalties for violations of the dating law include a fine not exceeding $12,000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year or both.

The title of the bill “Regulation of Marriage Brokers” is misleading and was used to suggest something sinister is occurring which needs to be regulated. The bill is littered with false, misleading and confusing language designed to suggest that international dating and friendship- a perfectly legitimate pursuit is somehow connected to trafficking or arranged marriages. These are actually two dissimilar activities and one activity is legal while the other activity is a crime. HB 596 would dangerously conflate both the legal and illegal activity as if they were the same.

The bill states it would regulate various for- profit enterprises including those that offer matrimonial and dating services. But the criminal disclosure requirements are performed before the couple has even met. How can you regulate matrimonial services if a relationship doesn’t even exist? It should come as no surprise that Delegate Joanne Benson the sponsor of this poorly written law is one of the most liberal lawmakers within the Maryland General Assembly.

Obviously the regulation of so-called “marriage brokers” is a spoof which surreptitiously masks the reality of a law that would violate the privacy rights of Maryland men. Simply put there is no justification to require Maryland citizens to provide their police records before they can exchange e mails with a foreigner. This is a blatant violation of the first Amendment (freedom of speech and freedom of association), the fifth and fourteenth Amendments (equal protection) as well as violations of article 2, 24, 40, 44 and article 46 in the Declaration of Rights of the Maryland Constitution.