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Gay Marriage Stays Legal In Massachusetts
Question Will Not Make Ballot
BOSTON -- Lawmakers voted Thursday to keep a constitutional amendment that bans gay marriage off the 2008 ballot during a joint session of the Massachusetts House and Senate.
The amendment that defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman needed the support of 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers in two consecutive sessions. It passed with 62 votes on the final day of the last legislative session earlier this year, but it only received 45 votes on Thursday.
The Legislature has twice put off voting on the controversial issue by adjourning without taking a vote after state residents collected petitions asking that the question be put to the voters as a ballot question. The supporters of the gay marriage ban amendment collected signatures from 170,000 people in an effort to get the question on the 2008 ballot.
Earlier in the day, activists on both sides of the issue gathered at the Statehouse to make their voices heard. Preaching a message of marriage equality, members of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry marched from St. Paul's Cathedral to the steps of the statehouse.
"God loves all of God's children -- gays, straight, transgender and bisexual -- and everyone has equal rights," the Rev. Anne Rousseau said.
Opponents of gay marriage demanded that the issue be decided by the voters of Massachusetts.
"If the majority of people in Massachusetts think that marriage should remain between a man and a woman, they ought to say that," said Wally Atwood, who supports a gay marriage ban.
"To take the position that a small group of unelected judges can determine who we are as a people, I think it's not right," said Elizabeth Dionne, who supports a gay marriage ban.
"This is a clear issue of civil rights and social justice, and we are here in support of it," said Alex Coleman, who supports gay marriage.
The issues has made national headlines with Democratic lawmakers. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lobbied to keep the question off the ballot.
"I think it's a choice people of Massachusetts need to make. Not Nancy Pelosi. She is not from here. She has nothing to do with it," Dionne said.
Others, such as Joan Fahey, who married her long-time partner in 2004, said that the issue transcends politics.
"It will really impact (us) on a day-to-day basis to the extent that gays and lesbians feel safe in this state," she said.
Then I realized, they're mostly from big firms who have big-money institutional clients. The Board isn't made up of social conservative but economic conservatives. And big business wants uniform rules.
So, IMHO, business is moving into the pro-gay-marriage camp.
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