IcarusAngel
16th June 2007, 03:55
The Legislature, in a vote as swift as it was historic, reaffirmed the state's first-in-the-nation same-sex marriage ruling yesterday, unequivocally protecting the rights of gays and lesbians to wed in Massachusetts until at least 2012.
The vote followed 3 1/2 years of fierce arguments, emotional testimonies, and controversial legal decisions. It came on a day filled with cheering and jeering in the streets of Beacon Hill.
But when the hour arrived, there was neither debate nor delay. In a packed chamber, first senators and then House members cast their votes to reject a constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage in Massachusetts as only a union between a man and a woman.
In the end, the proposed ban garnered only 45 votes, five short of what it needed to qualify for the 2008 statewide ballot and 17 fewer than it won during its first trip through the Legislature less than six months ago.
"In Massachusetts today, the freedom to marry is secure," Governor Deval Patrick told a cheering crowd of gay-marriage advocates after the results of the Constitutional Convention were announced. "Today's vote is not just a vote for marriage equality. It was a vote for equality itself."
Opponents of same-sex marriage, who had been optimistic they could hold their votes, vowed to continue the fight, possibly through a new petition drive. That process would require, once again, the collection of hundreds of thousands of signatures and the approval of at least 50 lawmakers in two consecutive legislative sessions. Secretary of State William F. Galvin said last night that the question could not be placed before voters until at least 2012.
"We're not going away," said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which led the voter signature drive to get the proposed constitutional ban before the Legislature. "But it's certainly a setback."
The defeat of the proposed amendment ends, at least for now, a series of fierce and often emotional debates at the State House that began when the Supreme Judicial Court issued a 4-to-3 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Lawmakers opposed to gay marriage immediately attempted to pass an amendment overturning the ruling, and when that failed, citizens launched their own petition, which garnered more than 100,000 signatures. Over the past three years, lawmakers wrestled with the issue during a series of heated and tumultuous constitutional conventions, which saw the support for a gay marriage ban steadily slip.
But yesterday, there were no fiery speeches. Lawmakers proceeded to a vote, just seconds after Senate President Therese Murray gaveled the convention to order. When the final tally was displayed, loud cheers erupted in the House chamber, throughout the State House, and on the streets beyond. Gay-marriage supporters wiped away tears and embraced, while opponents prayed in the hallways and threatened to work to unseat legislators who had switched their votes.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachus...to_come/?page=1 (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/06/15/right_of_gays_to_marry_set_for_years_to_come/?page=1)
The vote followed 3 1/2 years of fierce arguments, emotional testimonies, and controversial legal decisions. It came on a day filled with cheering and jeering in the streets of Beacon Hill.
But when the hour arrived, there was neither debate nor delay. In a packed chamber, first senators and then House members cast their votes to reject a constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage in Massachusetts as only a union between a man and a woman.
In the end, the proposed ban garnered only 45 votes, five short of what it needed to qualify for the 2008 statewide ballot and 17 fewer than it won during its first trip through the Legislature less than six months ago.
"In Massachusetts today, the freedom to marry is secure," Governor Deval Patrick told a cheering crowd of gay-marriage advocates after the results of the Constitutional Convention were announced. "Today's vote is not just a vote for marriage equality. It was a vote for equality itself."
Opponents of same-sex marriage, who had been optimistic they could hold their votes, vowed to continue the fight, possibly through a new petition drive. That process would require, once again, the collection of hundreds of thousands of signatures and the approval of at least 50 lawmakers in two consecutive legislative sessions. Secretary of State William F. Galvin said last night that the question could not be placed before voters until at least 2012.
"We're not going away," said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which led the voter signature drive to get the proposed constitutional ban before the Legislature. "But it's certainly a setback."
The defeat of the proposed amendment ends, at least for now, a series of fierce and often emotional debates at the State House that began when the Supreme Judicial Court issued a 4-to-3 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. Lawmakers opposed to gay marriage immediately attempted to pass an amendment overturning the ruling, and when that failed, citizens launched their own petition, which garnered more than 100,000 signatures. Over the past three years, lawmakers wrestled with the issue during a series of heated and tumultuous constitutional conventions, which saw the support for a gay marriage ban steadily slip.
But yesterday, there were no fiery speeches. Lawmakers proceeded to a vote, just seconds after Senate President Therese Murray gaveled the convention to order. When the final tally was displayed, loud cheers erupted in the House chamber, throughout the State House, and on the streets beyond. Gay-marriage supporters wiped away tears and embraced, while opponents prayed in the hallways and threatened to work to unseat legislators who had switched their votes.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachus...to_come/?page=1 (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/06/15/right_of_gays_to_marry_set_for_years_to_come/?page=1)