Has Kerry commented on the Mass. Supreme Court gay marriage ruling?

[dolstein]

And does anyone know how much time the legislature was given to revise the marriage statutes? Is there a chance that Massachussetts will recognize any gay marriages before election day? I can see Karl Rove drooling in anticipation.

[jpgray]

1. Well, legalizing gay *marriage* is just the RIGHT thing to do

A monogamous union between two consenting adults works for me as a defintion.

But on the candidate side, as far as I know the major candidates all support civil unions, but don't like the word marriage. That brings up images of "separate but equal", but that's where we are.

[papau]

2. the 6 month delay is about over, but MA leg asked if Civil Unions were ok

and the Court has not responded.

[Adapter44]

3. I would be surprised if he hasn't

Isn't he from Mass?

[Dagaz]

4. 180 days from Nov

So that's less than 4 months from now. Kerry is against gay marrage but for civil unions.

[beyurslf]

5. They have until late May

so we should certainly know beofe the election in Nov.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

6. Here's his statement issued within minutes of the ruling.

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2003_1118a.html

[sandnsea]

7. Statement

“I have long believed that gay men and lesbians should be assured equal protection and the same benefits – from health to survivor benefits to hospital visitation - that all families deserve. While I continue to oppose gay marriage, I believe that today’s decision calls on the Massachusetts state legislature to take action to ensure equal protection for gay couples. These protections are long over due.”

He opposes gay marriage because he doesn't think the country is ready for it and would like to move forward in protecting people's civil rights in a way that would get something done.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

8. What's your position on this issue? Are you opposed to civil unions?

All of our candidates pretty much agree about this issue -- so if you don't like Kerry's position, who are you supporting?

[Lexingtonian]

9. He's not one to endorse it

Like all the major candidates.

But said it was a state-level matter (wink,wink). Our local (Mass.) LGBT people were a bit disappointed but I've heard absolutely no critique of Kerry from that direction yet.

Basically, GM is going to happen here. The RC Church is the leading part of the opposition, something called the Family Marriage Institute is the political organization (funded via Focus On The Family/Charles Dobson iirc), and Mitt Romney is more or less the front for the LDS and other efforts. In short, the fervent opposition all traces in various ways to conservative Xtian groups.

Yesterday several local unions came in on the pro-marriage side. (If a discriminatory law is passed, especially a constitutional amendment, it will be used as a legal cudgel to cut down benefits dealings in collective bargaining.)

Locally the game is playing on various levels. The civil union bill that got passed in mid-December is in the SJC's hands now and everyone thinks it will be handed back to the Legislature as inadequate in early/mid February. Senate President Traviligni has blocked any constitutional amendment stuff from coming up early in the Legislature's session, which begins February 11- for perfectly practical reasons of getting a bunch of other necessary work done first. Romney's people have recently come up with a way of trying to appeal the SJC ruling- they're going back to them with the claim that "rational interpretation" of the state constitution's definition of marriage, contrary to the Goodridge verdict interpretation, does imply one man/one woman. No one thinks that will really fly, but they're doing it on the off chance that one of the justices has had a change of heart or mind on the whole thing.

It's going to be ugly as a process, but on May 15 or 18 or so there will be gay marriage in Massachusetts. Looking at the polling, Republicans are not going to try for a federal constitutional amendment before the election. (Probably no after, either.) Supposedly Rhode Island is ready to follow suit. Then you'll get the first married gay couples moving from Mass. to RI this fall, and someone will likely quietly start the ball rolling on a court challenge to DoMA.

Kerry is saying that it's not his business to meddle in. Notice how Dubya is unwilling to go the other way. Both sides know that their man is on their side, but it would be bad to say anything open for the time being.