After two recesses in the past six months and a highly publicized plea to vote from outgoing Gov. Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Legislature voted yesterday to advance a referendum on a constitutional amendment that would appear on the 2008 ballot to ban gay marriage in the state.
After taking two separate votes in the Legislature, 62 votes were tallied in favor of advancing the initiative, 12 more than the 50 votes necessary to keep the possibility of an amendment alive. The Legislature will vote again on the issue next year, and if it passes for a second time, Massachusetts voters will have a chance to decide whether or not gay marriage should remain legal in the commonwealth.
Opponents of gay marriage, who have in recent months chastised lawmakers for avoiding a vote on the amendment, called the decision a victory for voters.
Lisa Barstow of VoteOnMarriage.org, a group that opposes same-sex marriage, said the vote was a “victory of democracy.”
This vote came after Romney’s failed appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in December to order the Legislature to vote on the constitutional amendment. The Legislature first voted July 12 to recess the first Constitutional Convention to Nov. 9, and on that day, lawmakers again voted to recess the convention until yesterday. In the past month, Romney had criticized the Legislature for not fulfilling what he called its “constitutional” responsibility to vote on the issue, pointing to a petition signed by 170,000 Massachusetts residents calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
Barstow said VoteOnMarriage had expected if the measure went to a fair “up or down” vote, the amendment would be advanced. Barstow said her group initially aimed to advocate citizens’ rights to vote on marriage specifically but said after lawmakers failed to record a vote, it focused on supporting citizens’ rights to petition the government on any issue.
“All we were asking was for a fair shot at the constitutional process, and in the end, that is what we got,” Barstow said. “This is really about the citizens’ right to petition our government.”
Grace Ross, openly gay former Green Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate and same-sex marriage advocate, refuted Barstow’s position, saying that a democracy does not mean citizens should vote on all aspects of society.
“The thing is that people don’t understand that a democracy doesn’t mean you vote on everything,” Ross said. “You should not be voting on equal rights or the minority. The minority should have equal rights. The issue with the constitution was that the Supreme Judicial Court ruled [in favor of gay marriage] because of the equality clause.”
Supporters of same-sex marriage, however, vowed to win back lawmakers’ support in the coming year. Mass Equality Campaign Director Marc Solomon told The Daily Free Press his group is confident several new legislators will aide his group’s cause.
“We are going to keep at it,” he said.
Tom Lang, director of gay marriage rights group KnowThyNeighbor.org, said the outcome of the vote was disappointing.
“As a gay person, my life is put on hold,” he said. “I can’t live my life like everyone else – I have to be up here at the State House rallying for equality. No group should have to go through that.”
Gay marriage supporters are holding out hope that governor-elect Deval Patrick’s administration will help their cause. Patrick, who is in favor of gay marriage, urged the Legislature earlier yesterday not to vote on the constitutional amendment, which would have effectively ended any chance a referendum would appear on the 2008 ballot. Patrick’s position is a stark contrast from that of Romney, a social conservative.
“We just saw the biggest anti-gay and anti-equality groups coming out of Romney’s office with Healey today,” Lang said. “It’s just nasty. It makes your skin crawl.”