blhowes
Puritan Board Professor
Gay Marriage in MA
Looks like the voters in MA won't get to vote on the issue of gay marriage.
Looks like the voters in MA won't get to vote on the issue of gay marriage.
From Tuesday's Boston Globe:
They have three options: send the question to voters next year, kill it or postpone the vote.
<snip>
In order for the question to reach the ballot, at least 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers must approve the question in back-to-back legislative sessions.
Fifty-seven lawmakers have either voted for the proposed amendment or have pledged to do so. Changing eight votes would bring supporters of gay marriage below 50 votes and block the question.
Marc Solomon, campaign director of the pro-gay marriage group MassEquality, said activists are working furiously to round up enough votes to kill the question, arguing that the rights of minority groups shouldn't be put to a popular vote.
<snip>
Last session, two of the state's three top political leaders, Romney among them, opposed gay marriage. Now all three, including Patrick and new Senate President Therese Murray, who presides over the joint session, support gay marriage.
Today's New's Release:
June 14, 2007
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lisa Barstow (617) 480-1719
Legislature Votes Down Marriage Amendment
Unrelenting Pressure by Patrick, Murray, DiMasi Blamed
Boston - VoteOnMarriage.org - the campaign to allow the voters to decide on the definition of marriage in Massachusetts - expressed outrage over today's Constitutional Convention vote on the Marriage Amendment citing the unrelenting pressure by Governor Patrick, House Speaker DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray forcing some lawmakers to switch their positions on the issue during the 11th hour.
"The Marriage Amendment won its first legislative vote and was on track to win its second with a healthy margin. The unprecedented pressure by leaders on Beacon Hill - the rumors of patronage jobs by Governor Patrick and arm-twisting by House Speaker DiMasi - derailed the largest initiative petition drive by citizens in the Commonwealth's history and this is a brutal loss for citizen-centered democracy," said Kris Mineau, president, Massachusetts Family Institute and spokesman, VoteOnMarriage.org.
All three Beacon Hill leaders opposed the people's right to vote on marriage. Allegations of bribery by the Governor and arm twisting by the House Speaker as a means of pressuring legislators to switch their vote have been reported widely in the press in recent weeks.
"The Governor and House Speaker have been unrelenting in fighting the natural course of advancement on the marriage amendment and the people's right to vote," said Mineau. "We will look very closely at the circumstances by which legislators switched their vote for ethics violations or improprieties."
Citizens in 45 states have weighed in on the definition of marriage either through the legislative process or by constitutional amendments. VoteOnMarriage.org vows to continue the fight for the people of Massachusetts to be heard on this issue.
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