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Bay State Lawmakers' Vote Keeps Mass. Marriage Amendment Alive

by Jim Brown and Jenni Parker
January 5, 2007

(AgapePress) - - A Massachusetts pro-family group is welcoming the latest step towards banning same-sex "marriages" in that state by defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. One Bay State pro-family leader is hailing the legislative action as a reaffirmation of the voice and the will of the people.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts lawmakers voted to keep alive a proposed constitutional amendment that would put an end to same-sex marriage in the state. The citizens' petition must receive a second vote of approval by the Legislature in the next year for the amendment to go on the 2008 ballot, but pro-family groups are encouraged.

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), calls the Legislature's vote "democracy in action" and sees it as a major breakthrough. "It's a very historic moment in Massachusetts," he says, "not just about the battle for the definition of marriage -- it just is a real milestone in turning that around -- but also in reaffirming the citizens' right to petition."

That is significant in the Bay State, Mineau explains, "because we've had a Legislature that's refused to vote on the last seven citizens' petitions." Meanwhile, more than 75 percent of the state's registered voters have said they want to vote on the same-sex marriage issue.

The president of MFI credits former Governor Mitt Romney, who left office this week, for pressuring state lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment that would reverse legalized homosexual marriage in Massachusetts. The proposed amendment, if passed, would not invalidate the more than 8,000 same-sex marriages that have occurred in the state since they were legalized in May 2004, but it would prevent any more such marriages from taking place.

Mineau feels Romney played a leading role in promoting the citizens' initiative. "The governor has been a strong supporter of the marriage amendment over his entire administration of four years," he notes, "but the last 18 months of our current amendment effort, he's just been of tremendous assistance in advocating it and holding press conferences and lobbying the legislature."

The MFI spokesman says he believes Romney's decision to file a personal lawsuit with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court "paved the way" for the historic vote in the Legislature to occur. According to a New York Times report, the state lawmakers appeared to have essentially killed the proposal two months ago at an earlier constitutional convention, during which the legislators recessed without voting on the amendment and tabled it until January 2, the last day of the legislative session.

Supporters and opponents of the marriage amendment said they expected that lawmakers would vote to end the session without taking up the measure. However, last week the Supreme Judicial Court chided lawmakers for their avoidance of a vote on the amendment, saying the Legislature had demonstrated "indifference to, or defiance of, its constitutional duties."

The Supreme Judicial Court said it was not empowered to order the Legislature to vote on the amendment, as Romney and other petitioners had asked it to do. However, the Times reports, the state high court's criticism appeared to be enough to make some legislators, including even some supporters of same-sex marriage, decide to allow a vote on the amendment.

The Massachusetts Family Institute, which sponsored the marriage amendment, is applauding the lawmakers' action. The pro-family organization had gathered 170,000 petition signatures to get the measure before the Legislature, and Mineau feels the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling definitely "changed the atmosphere" and influenced the vote in the amendment's favor.

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