Still Married in Massachusetts
Jun. 16th, 2007 12:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellenkushnerBOSTON, Mass. - June 15, 2007 (Radio Story) - Gay marriage is here to stay in Massachusetts, at least for the foreseeable future. By a margin of 151 to 45, lawmakers decided yesterday against sending a proposed ban to a statewide referendum next year.
The vote capped weeks of lobbying at the state house, with Governor Deval Patrick among those leading the charge against the amendment. Meanwhile, opponents of same sex marriage are promising to press on but they're not yet specifying any further actions.
Boston Globe "web exclusive" Opinion Piece by Derrick Z. Jackson (6/14/07):
LET THE wedding bells ring 151 times for gay couples and a courageous commonwealth.
Not only did the Massachusetts Legislature vote 151-45 today to block a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, the 45 votes for the ban represented a resounding drop from the 62 votes for the amendment last session. The measure needed at least 50 of 200 votes in consecutive sessions to make it to the ballot.
That was a dramatic testament to the fact that legislators concluded that neither the so-called sanctity of matrimony nor the moral fiber of the commonwealth crumbled in the three years of gay marriage. ....
CATHOLIC SUPPORT
from a "high profile lay advisor to Boston Archbishop Cardinal O'Malley. The advisor, Peter Meade...who resigned over the Archdiocese's decision to ban same-sex couples from adopting . . . " His editorial, written earlier this week in the tabloid Boston Herald.:
"...legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts is a logical continuation of the social evolution that winds its way slowly yet inexorably throughout our nation’s history. . . . . Across the street from the State House stands the monument commemorating the heroics of the Massachusetts 54th, the black regiment that fought with such distinction in the Civil War. The plaque is inscribed with the names of the men who died “in the cause of freedom and union.” Freedom and union. Are there any two words that more aptly apply to the marriage issue today?"
AP Wire: Gay marriage Backers want to open Mass. to out -of-state backers:
Fresh off the success of defending gay marriage from its latest attack, advocates say they have one more fight in Massachusetts: Repealing a 1913 law that bars same-sex couples in most other states from coming here to get married. .... Opponents of gay marriage, including the former governor and now Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have said repealing the law would make Massachusetts the "Las Vegas of gay marriage."
Only instead of Elvis Chapels we'll have Michelangelo & Natalie Barney.
The vote capped weeks of lobbying at the state house, with Governor Deval Patrick among those leading the charge against the amendment. Meanwhile, opponents of same sex marriage are promising to press on but they're not yet specifying any further actions.
Boston Globe "web exclusive" Opinion Piece by Derrick Z. Jackson (6/14/07):
LET THE wedding bells ring 151 times for gay couples and a courageous commonwealth.
Not only did the Massachusetts Legislature vote 151-45 today to block a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, the 45 votes for the ban represented a resounding drop from the 62 votes for the amendment last session. The measure needed at least 50 of 200 votes in consecutive sessions to make it to the ballot.
That was a dramatic testament to the fact that legislators concluded that neither the so-called sanctity of matrimony nor the moral fiber of the commonwealth crumbled in the three years of gay marriage. ....
CATHOLIC SUPPORT
from a "high profile lay advisor to Boston Archbishop Cardinal O'Malley. The advisor, Peter Meade...who resigned over the Archdiocese's decision to ban same-sex couples from adopting . . . " His editorial, written earlier this week in the tabloid Boston Herald.:
"...legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts is a logical continuation of the social evolution that winds its way slowly yet inexorably throughout our nation’s history. . . . . Across the street from the State House stands the monument commemorating the heroics of the Massachusetts 54th, the black regiment that fought with such distinction in the Civil War. The plaque is inscribed with the names of the men who died “in the cause of freedom and union.” Freedom and union. Are there any two words that more aptly apply to the marriage issue today?"
AP Wire: Gay marriage Backers want to open Mass. to out -of-state backers:
Fresh off the success of defending gay marriage from its latest attack, advocates say they have one more fight in Massachusetts: Repealing a 1913 law that bars same-sex couples in most other states from coming here to get married. .... Opponents of gay marriage, including the former governor and now Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have said repealing the law would make Massachusetts the "Las Vegas of gay marriage."
Only instead of Elvis Chapels we'll have Michelangelo & Natalie Barney.