Mass. Lawmakers Reject Gay Marriage Ban!!

[chicken]

"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."

Mass. Lawmakers Reject Gay Marriage Ban!

Comments

[zandra-x.livejournal.com]

Excellent. And by a large margin of votes!

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I know! Clearly a lot of Republicans changed their bigoted tunes (like the guy who was quoted) when they saw NO SIGN of a Rain of Toads or Plague of Locusts descend on the Commonwealth after gay marriage became a reality.

[keever.livejournal.com]

That's the part that makes me happy, too. It seems like they're conceding that the sky didn't fall down around Massachusetts, which is a really encouraging turnaround in mindset.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Now if only New York and Rhode Island would get on the wagon, too!

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Ron called me with the good news a few minutes ago!

We didn't get down to the State House today as we had hoped. Ron was swamped with work, and MassEquality was not organizing anything official anyway. It sounds as if a few folks turned up, but not like last year when Ron went and there were hundreds.

This is good. Now it will be interesting to see what happens with the 2008 initiative. For convoluted reasons I don't understand, it requires fewer Legislative votes to pass.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

For convoluted reasons I don't understand, it requires fewer Legislative votes to pass.

Still, the margin of votes was hugely in our favor this time, so we can't be too cynical.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

157-39, and the 2008 measure sounds as if it's more radical than this "compromise" amendment was, so it will probably be less popular.

I'm honestly astonished. I didn't think the legislature would turn around this profoundly in such a short time. But when it became a real thing and people could see with their own eyes that it was no big deal, I suppose that changed a lot of minds.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Yes, not only could they see with their own eyes that nothing bad came of it, but I'm sure a few legislators had family members come out to them. It's just inevitable.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

One thing that does give me pause is that 2008 is another presidential election year. Which means that this may end up once again tangled in the presidential campaign (and specificially Mitt Romney's aspirations: he's going to be looking for a way in with Protestant evangelicals who are scared of his Mormonism). The anti-gay angle will probably still be a winner nationally, and lots of expensive propaganda might be brought to bear.

But every year that same-sex marriage persists here and people continue to get married, it becomes harder and harder to overturn. By then it may well have a sizeable margin even in a straight popular vote, at least in Massachusetts.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Yes, the 2008 Presidential election worries me, too. But hopefully after a few thousand more gay people get married, people will be totally used to it.

[medelle.livejournal.com]

That's terrific, but I must admit Im VERY confused by the comment by one Representative who said that it is physically impossible for two men or two women to consumate a marriage.

The last I heard all that really took was sex. I think that's a pretty easy thing to figure out no matter what your gender make up! :)

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I think they are both stupid and fixated on pregnancy. Or something.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

You know the story: It doesn't count unless it's man-woman, the guy is on top and the woman doesn't enjoy it.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

I swear these people are still Puritans at heart. Or basically they're the Protestant couple from Monty Python's the Meaning of Life.