Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has signed two bills that grant gays hospitalization rights and tax breaks respectively. O’Malley’s signature comes soon after he signed off on a bill that prohibits anti-gay bullying.

The first bill, the Health Care Facility Visitation & Medical Decisions law, gives gay citizens the right to visit their partners in the hospital and make certain medical decisions, according to The Washington Blade. The other bill adds domestic partners to a list of legal relatives that are exempt from recordation and transfer taxes.

The Blade reports:

Both bills were targeted by Catholic protestors, who pushed for O’Malley to veto the measures.

In letters distributed earlier this month, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin O’Brien said the bills “would seriously undermine and clearly set a precedent for a further erosion of the legal status of marriage.” He asked Catholics to urge O’Malley to veto the bills.

O’Malley instead recognized the Health Care Facility Visitation & Medical Decisions law in a statement announcing his approval of several health care bills.

“With today’s bills,” he said, “we are helping to secure the long-term fiscal health of the Prince George’s County Hospital Center, providing prescription drug coverage to thousands of Maryland seniors and giving domestic partners equal rights by allowing them to make health care facility visitation and medical decisions.”