Massachusetts Derails Effort to Ban Same-Sex Marriages in State
By Michael McDonald
Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Massachusetts lawmakers today derailed an effort to send a proposal to voters that would ban same-sex marriages in the state.
The state Legislature voted to end a special session before debating the proposed state constitutional amendment that would appear on the 2008 statewide ballot.
``This amendment is about the past,'' said State Senator Edward Augustine, a Democrat who opposed the measure. ``It's about fear and intolerance.''
Massachusetts is the only state in the U.S. that recognizes marriages between people of the same sex. The state inspired activists to seek similar treatment in other states and led opponents, including President George W. Bush, to advocate a U.S. constitutional amendment banning it.
The same-sex marriage ban was one measure the state House of Representatives and Senate in Massachusetts debated today at a joint session on constitutional amendments.
State lawmakers voted in 2004 to amend the constitution to ban the marriages but rejected the measure the next year. It had to be passed by lawmakers this year and next to get it on a ballot in 2008. Instead, they voted to recess until Jan. 2.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2003 that the state constitution guarantees equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. There have been as many as 9,000 such unions in the state since town clerks started issuing licenses to gay and lesbian couples more than two year ago, according to the legislators who spoke today.
Republican Governor Mitt Romney, who is considering a run for U.S. President in 2008, supports the state proposal to ban the marriages.
Voters in Idaho, Colorado, South Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin voted this week in favor of restricting marriage to a man and woman. Arizona voters rejected such a proposal.
The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled on Oct. 25 that gay couples are entitled to the same rights under the state constitution as married couples of opposite sexes, leaving to the Legislature the decision on whether to call it marriage or civil unions.
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THE ISSUE: Even before Massachusetts' highest court ruled in 2003 that the state constitution allowed gay marriage, opponents have been trying to add an amendment banning same-sex marriage.
THE DEBATE: Lawmakers were faced with two proposed amendments, one outlawing existing and future same-sex marriages and a second - the subject of a signature drive - banning only future gay marriages.
THE VOTE: Lawmakers rejected the first amendment, but decided to delay action on the second, which would have only needed 50 votes to move onto the new legislature and possibly onto the 2008 ballot.
WHAT'S NEXT: The question comes back before lawmakers on Jan. 2, the last day of the legislative year, but it's likely they will adjourn without taking action, killing the measure.
A timeline of events involving gay marriage in Massachusetts
By The Associated Press | November 9, 2006
Some important dates in the history of the gay marriage debate in Massachusetts:
April 11, 2001 -- Seven same-sex couples, denied marriage licenses, sue in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston to challenge the state's gay marriage ban.
Nov. 18, 2003 -- The SJC rules it is unconstitutional to bar gay couples from marriage, and gives the Legislature 180 days to come up with a solution to allow gays to wed. President Bush, in a visit to London, criticizes the decision and vows to work with Congress to "defend the sanctity of marriage."
Feb. 4, 2004 -- Acting on a request from state lawmakers, the SJC clarifies its earlier ruling, saying only full, equal marriage rights for gay couples - rather than civil unions - are constitutional.
Feb. 11, 2004 -- Massachusetts Legislature opens constitutional convention with debate on a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage and adjourns a day later deadlocked, after failing to pass three separate proposed bans on same-sex marriage.
March 29, 2004 -- State Legislature approves proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage but legalize Vermont-style civil unions.
March 31, 2004 -- State Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly says gay marriage will apply only to Massachusetts residents because of a 1913 state law that prevents out-of-staters from getting married in Massachusetts if they are ineligible for marriage in the state where they live.
May 4, 2004 -- Gov. Mitt Romney's top legal adviser warns city and town clerks that issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state gay couples will make the marriages void and could result in legal repercussions for the clerks.
May 17, 2004 -- Marriages of gay couples begin in Massachusetts.
May 18, 2004 -- Romney's administration demands copies of all marriage-license applications filled out by gay couples in Provincetown and three other cities that openly defy the residency requirement for same-sex marriages.
May 19, 2004 -- The Democrat-controlled state Senate votes overwhelmingly to repeal the 1913 law that Romney used to bar out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts. The repeal dies after leaving the Senate.
May 24, 2004 -- Reilly issues cease and desist orders telling clerks to stop issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state gay couples.
June 18, 2004 -- Eight couples and more than a dozen municipal clerks file lawsuits challenging the 1913 law used to block out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts.
July 13, 2004 -- A lawyer for the out-of-state couples asks a superior court judge for an injunction blocking the state from enforcing the 1913 law, saying it violates both the U.S. Constitution and Massachusetts law.
Aug. 18, 2004 -- Superior Court Judge Carol Ball rejects the challenge to the 1913 law barring out-of-state gay couples from marrying.
October 6, 2005 -- A lawyer for the out-of-state couples argues before the SJC that the 1913 law "sat on the shelf" unused for decades until it was "dusted off" by Romney.
March 30, 2006 -- The Massachusetts high court rules that nonresident gays cannot marry in the state.
Sept. 29, 2006 -- A Massachusetts state judge rules that same-sex couples from Rhode Island have the right to marry in Massachusetts.
Nov. 9, 2006 -- Legislators recess a constitutional convention until Jan. 2, 2007, without voting on a citizen-proposed ballot measure to ban same-sex marriages. The move made it unlikely the measure would be acted on in time to get on the November 2008 ballot.
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