!! MASSACHUSETTS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION TOMORROW !!

[Ian David]

Tomorrow, Massachusetts legislators will meet in Constitutional Convention. According to Anne Dufresne, spokeswoman for Senate President Travaglini, at tomorrow's session legislators will "determine when to reconvene the constitutional convention" to consider proposed amendments to the state constitution. We are neither expecting, nor asking for, a presence at the State House tomorrow.

After tomorrow's convention, we will likely know the date when legislators will meet again to consider the pending amendment that would revoke marriage equality and replace it instead with separate-and-unequal civil unions. We expect this critical date to be sometime this fall.

We will continue our work lining up opposition to the pending amendment right up until the date legislators vote on whether to move the amendment forward to a November 2006 public vote. Thanks to the hard work of MassEquality supporters, staff, and Coalition members, we have been making tremendous progress. Just last week, Representative Anthony Petruccelli of East Boston announced that he will vote against the anti-gay amendment this fall. Our work here at MassEquality and your work meeting with legislators, volunteering and spreading the word about marriage equality is paying dividends. Now is not the time to let up. Later this week, we will send you an email with news about the final convention date and steps you can take between now and then.

Thank you for all your support thusfar. The next few months may very well prove the key turning point in our campaign to preserve equal marriage rights in Massachusetts. Please continue to be engaged and to speak with your friends and family about the importance of marriage equality.

Sincerely,

Marty Rouse
Campaign Director

P.S. Due to the extraordinary success of our summer canvass program, we have decided to keep the program running this fall. Full- and part-time canvassing positions are now available. For more information, please contact Julie at [e-mail].

MassEquality.org is dedicated to ensuring that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision on marriage equality is upheld, and that any anti-gay amendment or legislation is defeated.

[TaleWgnDg]

1. Ah, yes. MassEquality.org, a good organization. Indeed.

Ah, yes. MassEquality.org, a good organization. Indeed. Check out their website: http://www.massequality.org/ (stay for the Macromedia Flash Player® intro)!

I miss ex-Senator Tom Birmingham (Democrat, Chelsea, past president of the MA state Senate) who banged the gavel on April 10, 2002, and said they'd be no Constitutional Convention! What a backbone. Yup, he didn't convene the 2002 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) when discrimination against gay marriage (so-called "Protection of (heterosexual only) Marriage Act") was on the Con-Con agenda back in 2002! What a governor Birmingham would have made!


Granite steps to the front of Massachusetts State House
during the 2004 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention

.

[paineinthearse]

2. Vote set for Sept 14

By email

Please Read, Take Action and Forward

Earlier today, Massachusetts legislators convened in Constitutional Convention. They agreed to reconvene and consider proposed constitutional amendments at 1 PM on Wednesday, September 14. We expect that legislators will take the final vote on the pending anti-gay constitutional amendment at that time.

The pending amendment would revoke equal marriage rights for same-sex couples and replace them instead with separate-and-unequal civil unions. If the amendment passes on September 14, as it did last year, it will go to a public vote in November 2006.

The next three weeks are vitally important. During these 21 days, we must take every action possible to ensure that our legislators know the broad support that exists for marriage equality in Massachusetts. We must explain to legislators why equality is so important and how wrong it would be to have the fundamental civil rights of gay men and lesbians determined at the ballot box. Most importantly, we must enlist new people to take action.

So, today we ask you to do three things:

1. Send an email to your legislators. Even if you have done so already, it is important that your legislators hear from you today, now that the date is set. Click here to send a message through our website.

2. Forward this email to your friends and family members. Commit to enlisting at least five new people to take action.

3. Make a financial contribution to support our work. With your help, we have identified tens of thousands of new supporters of equality. Now we must mobilize them to take action and contact their legislators. Click here to make a secure online donation.

Together we have built an amazing campaign to protect equal marriage rights in Massachusetts. To ensure our ultimate victory, we ask you today to rededicate yourself to take action now and over the next three weeks.

We will keep you up-to-date over the coming days about actions you can take over the next three weeks.

Thank you,

Marty Rouse
Campaign Director