Mass. Lawmakers Reject Gay Marriage Ban

[Stevious]

By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

BOSTON - The Massachusetts Legislature on Wednesday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that sought to ban gay marriage but legalize civil unions, a year after the state performed the nation's first government-sanctioned same-sex weddings.

It was the second time the Legislature had confronted the measure, which was intended to be put before voters on a statewide ballot in 2006. Under state law, lawmakers were required to approve it in two consecutive sessions before it could move forward.

After less than two hours of debate Wednesday, a joint session of the House and Senate voted 157-39 against the measure.

It was a striking departure from a year earlier, when hundreds of protesters converged on Beacon Hill and sharply divided legislators spent long hours debating the issue. In that session, in March 2004, lawmakers voted 105-92 in favor of the amendment.

This year, the crowds were tamer and some legislators who had initially supported the proposed change to the state constitution said they no longer felt right about denying the right of marriage to thousands of same-sex couples.

"Gay marriage has begun, and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry," said state Sen. Brian Lees, a Republican who had been a co-sponsor of the amendment. "This amendment which was an appropriate measure or compromise a year ago, is no longer, I feel, a compromise today."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050914/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage

:bounce:

[Ian David]

1. Task Force Hails Defeat of Massachusetts Anti-Marriage Amendment

**************************************************************
NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
Press Release

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Roberta Sklar, Communications Director
(Office) 646.358.1465
(Cell) 917.704.6358
[e-mail]

**************************************************************

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Hails Defeat of
Massachusetts Anti-Marriage Amendment; Lauds Efforts of State
and Local Leaders

"Vote proves dogged grassroots organizing can change legislative
votes"

Task Force Contributes $346,000 to Effort

WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
hailed today's defeat of a proposed Massachusetts constitutional
amendment seeking to ban same-sex marriage and create civil
unions. The measure was defeated today by a vote of 157 to 39 by
the state Legislature meeting in a joint constitutional
convention, having passed the body in March, 2004 by a vote of
105-92. Had it passed today, it would have been on the statewide
ballot in November, 2006.

"Today's vote proves that dogged grassroots organizing can
change legislative votes" said Matt Foreman, executive director
of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "MassEquality and
its campaign director Marty Rouse have done an extraordinary job
and we are very proud to be on-the-ground partners with them in
preserving marriage equality in the one state where it now
exists."

"The reality of thousands of our marriages in Massachusetts
showed the utter fallacy of our opponents' arguments and dire
predictions," Foreman said. "Not only did the crops not wither,
the Red Sox won the World Series and the Patriots took the Super
Bowl."

"This victory is especially sweet. The Legislature's resounding
defeat of the mean-spirited amendment to strip away our right to
marry affirms and echoes the courageous stand of our state's
Supreme Judicial Court. In its Goodridge decision, the Court
conferred full recognition of our families' human dignity and
goodness and today, our Legislature agreed," said Cambridge
resident Sue Hyde, a longtime Task Force staffer and co-founder
and board member of MassEquality.

Since early 2004, the Task Force and its sister organization
NGLTF, Inc. have spent $346,000 working in partnership with
MassEquality and other organizations on a wide range of
activities to preserve marriage equality in Massachusetts,
including:

-Making direct cash grants to MassEquality;

-Organizing and staffing a program involving nearly 3,000
volunteers to identify pro-gay voters;

-Organizing and staffing in conjunction with MassEquality a
door-to-door and phone-banking operation to bring constituent
pressure to bear on state legislators in Western Massachusetts;

-Assigning staff to lobby the state legislature;

-Issuing a ground-breaking analysis of the economic disparities
faced by Massachusetts same-sex couples if denied equal marriage
rights;

-Organizing a "Power Summit" in Boston that trained 100
activists on talking to voters about marriage equality;

-Bringing the National Religious Leadership Roundtable to Boston
to lobby legislators during the first Constitutional Convention
last winter.

Through this work, the Task Force was the lead organizer in 11
major door-to-door voter canvasses and in filling hundreds of
phonebanking shifts.

"The Task Force's Sue Hyde of Cambridge helped form MassEquality
four years ago and since then the Task Force has only increased
its commitment in Massachusetts," said MassEquality Campaign
Director Marty Rouse. "We are proud of our partnership with the
Task Force - with their expertise we were able to surpass our
voter ID goals this summer. Together, we have built a growing
equal marriage majority in Massachusetts."

The fight to preserve marriage equality in the Bay State is not
over. Anti-marriage groups are aiming to place a constitutional
amendment on the 2008 ballot that seeks to ban same-sex
marriages without creating civil unions. To get on the ballot,
backers must gather 65,825 signatures and then it has to pass in
two successive sessions of the legislature. Anti-marriage groups
can begin circulating petitions for the new amendment on
September 21.

***************************************************************

Become a Task Force member:
http://www.thetaskforce.org/donate/index.cfm

Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Foundation (the Task Force) was the first national lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and advocacy
organization and remains the movement's leading voice for
freedom, justice and equality. We work to build the grassroots
political strength of our community by training state and local
activists and leaders, working to strengthen the infrastructure
of state and local allies, and organizing broad-based campaigns
to build public support for complete equality for LGBT people.
Our Policy Institute, the community's premier think tank,
provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle
for complete equality. As part of a broader social justice
movement, we work to create a world that respects and makes
visible the diversity of human expression and identity where all
people may fully participate in society. Headquartered in
Washington, D.C., we also have offices in New York City, Los
Angeles, Cambridge, Mass., and Miami. The Task Force is a
501(c)(3) corporation incorporated in Washington, D.C.
Contributions to the Task Force are tax deductible to the full
extent allowed by law.

Copyright 2005 National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Creating Change (TM) is a trademark of the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force. All other trademarks mentioned herein belong
to their respective owners. The Task Force Foundation is a
non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Tax ID #52-1624852.
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[Ian David]

2. We Won! Marriage Ban Defeated

Your Organizer, Justin, sent the following message to the
members of The Boston Freedom to Marry Meetup:

Massachusetts legislators rejected by a vote of 157 to 39 a
proposed constitutional amendment that would have banned same-
sex marriage. At least 115 legislators voted against the
amendment because they support equal marriage rights, while
many others opposed it because of its civil unions provisions.
This is a well-earned victory and today we can all celebrate!

On the horizon is the 2008 ballot initiative that would attempt
to ban marriage without replacing it with any marriage
protections. Our opponents are determined, but we will be
ready for them!

In the meantime, I urge all of you to become involved in one of
the many local progressive campaigns and work to elect pro-
equality, progressive legislators so our state legislature will
solidly support same-sex marriage when it faces a tougher
hurdle of mustering 151 votes to keep the 2008 marriage ban off
the ballot.

There is much more work to be done, but today we can celebrate
a well-earned and hard-fought victory!

Thank all of you for your continued activism!
-----------------------------------------------------------------

To visit The Boston Freedom to Marry Meetup, go here:
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Your Organizer chose to keep his or her email address private.
To respond to this email use the 'Contact Organizer' feature of
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If you'd like to take part in a discussion, your Organizer also
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[TaleWgnDg]

3. Welcome to DU, Stevious . . .

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Congratulations, Massachusetts!! Well done!!





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